A Different Side
by SariaSubi-kun
Summary: UNDERGOING RECONSTRUCTION. SEE AUTHOR PROFILE
1. Prologue

A Different Side--Prologue  
  
SariaSubi-kun: Ooookay! This is my first fanfic...but it wont be bad! It's got the guys you like: Trowa and Quatre! No, it's not a yaoi romance....but they star in it! Okay, all the Gundam pilots star in it, but later. This is the prologue, which WILL be needed later on. Read! I already have Chapter 1 in process, but you are welcome to R&R this! I will have my fairie friend introducing some chapters, and my friends of the F4! Read!  
  
Prologue  
  
"Naomi! Come on, bring me the tools! I can't fix this by myself!"  
  
"H-hai! I'm comin Julius!" A young girl of about thirteen floated across space with a box of tools. She smiled as she stretched her arms out to hand the older man the tools. She watched him work. "Ssso," Naomi observed, "how much longer?"  
  
"Go back and unlatch my connection wire. I can't reach the other side of the colony."  
  
"But there could be a mobile suit fight or something! Julius!"  
  
"Naomi, do it. This colony won't be much good in a mobile fight either if we can't fix the sheild." The girl obidiently complied and floated over to the moonwalk dock. She thought she saw another figure, but Julius would just tell her that she was seeing things. She wasn't used to this type of setting in space, just like she couldn't stand flying. It was always so cold. Space was always so cold.  
  
She pressed her gloved hand against a button and heard the hook unlatch.Naomi looked back at Julius. He would always do a job, no matter how dangerous. He always said to her, "Look at all the fighters on Earth. They're risking their lives each day and many come back home, dead. And the Gundam pilots..." She was a simple mechanic's apprentice, and she feared for life as if Oz was pointing guns at her. Each day she prayed for the Gundam pilots.  
  
"Julius, it's done!" she happily transmitted her message to him. "I..noh-"and soon she faded from conciousness. The whole vast scene of space dissappeared from her view. All she knew was that she felt colder....  
  
~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Uhhhh..my head." Naomi tried to reach her head to rub the back of her head, but was blocked by her helmet. She remembered where she was. In space. With Julius. Where was Julius?  
  
"Julius!" she hollored. Where was he? She searched the void frantically. And she finally found him. With no helmet. And his eyes were opened.  
  
She sobbed as she floated over to her brotherly-like friend. He had been the brother she never had. 'J-juliusss....." The tears floated in her helmet. She gazed into his face. His eyes were wide open with terror. "You must have been scared, Julius," she wept. "How did this happen?!" she screamed at the floating figure. "HOW!!!" She closed her eyes; she couldn't bear the horror. "Why? Who did this?" No answer came except the vague memory of that figure in the navy-blue/black spacesuit that she swore she saw.  
  
Her thoughts became those of rage. She shook as she fumed. "I...swear...I will..." she grit her teeth, "...kill....him..." She looked into space.  
  
"I'LL KILL HIM!!!!!!!"  
  
~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Naomi! Where are you going, my dear? What is that bag?"  
  
"Father, I'm going to Earth," she muttered stubbornly.  
  
"But-"  
  
"I'm going. You can't stop me. There's nothing for me here. Good-bye father. I left a note to mother, wherever she is. Wasn't like she was there anyway.."  
  
"I wish you the best, Naomi-chan." She stopped and looked at her father, Yossonan Atsui, and felt a tang of remorse for leaving. Memories came back to her of the day before and she quickly turned to leave. She had to leave this place. And she never wanted to see that other colony again. These colonies were worthless now.  
  
"Oz, please strike them all down, and then self-destruct. Do us all some good."  
  
Naomi immediately put her loud rock on her ears as the shuttle left the spaceport.   
  
As the shuttle left the L4 Colony. 


	2. A First Day, A First Glance

A Different Side  
  
A/N: Okay! SariaSubi here with Navi!! My special fairy guest!  
Navi: Yah, love me, you dopes!  
SariaSubi: Okay, shut up, pixie dust.  
Navi: Hey!  
SariaSubi: Well it's not like anyone is on.... whoops, let's keep this rated for   
viewers! I keep forgetting  
Navi: Yah, after reading how many yaoi fics last night?  
SariaSubi: Shut up! I should never take you along to say that I don't own   
anything in Gundam Wing or stuff!  
Navi: You're boring the readers. ::yawns:: For those who have loyally read all   
this already, you are dumb.  
SariaSubi: Hey! I'm supposed to call you dumb, pixie dust!  
Navi: ::ignores building rage:: To stop boring you, I'll just say for idiot over   
here that SariaSubi doesn't not own GW and that anime and-  
SariaSubi: Quatre!  
Navi: and Quatre belong to the genius dude who thought up this anime.  
SariaSubi: Read and review!  
Navi: You dopes!  
SariaSubi: But we'd like to thank Lil' Kai Girl for the inspiration of this   
chapter!  
Navi: ::looks confused:: We do?! ::looks around:: Who is this Kai Girl?  
SariaSubi: ::slaps Navi:: Never you mind! We say thanks!  
Navi: We also say, "Don't sue us!"  
  
Chapter 1  
  
The wind blew gently and only disturbed the low grass very little. It   
soothed the hot summer day, especially at Pierce Camp on Earth A.C 196.  
Trowa looked at the clusters of mid-teenagers around him. Why was he here?   
Was it because Quatre was here as well? Was it because he still found the need   
to hide himself, because the circus had disbanded? He sighed. He was here,   
sitting next to Quatre, his best friend. He would have to endure a summer at   
Pierce Camp.  
"Hey Trowa," Quatre smiled and turn his head to him, "this might be fun,   
cheer up!"  
"Yeah, maybe. But what are we supposed to do all summer here?"  
"Well," Quatre looked around, "this seems like a good place. There are   
people here our age, it seems fun. I just thought we could try somethin   
different."  
"Yes, I guess." Trowa just looked to the sky. What would this be like?  
  
  
"Aw man, where are they?" A young girl with medium-length brown hair and   
green eyes surveyed the field. "Those damn busses!" she complained, "and they   
live in the city, no less! Aw, man, aw man, aw man!" She looked at everyone.   
"Looks like the usual suspects. Preps, check," she made a self checklist, "jerks,   
check, okay people, check, and hello two new guys." Her eyes rested on a tall   
boy of about her age with short brown hair with long bangs shifted over his   
right eye and another one next to him with blonde hair with bangs that shaded   
blue eyes. Interesting dudes, she thought. Eh, who knows? Maybe she might get   
the chance to meet'em.  
"Well, it looks like the girlies already have the hots for them," she   
muttered. The "girlies," Clarissa Cohen, Michelle Twaisler, Kathy Gegrin, and   
Rachel Unsvechez, already had eyes fully sugared with eye candy. "Holy crap,"   
she slapped her forehead. It was like the previous years; "Oh, guys, check out   
that hot lifeguard!" "Chrisie is soooo cute!" "Isn't Michael hot?" "Jordan,   
Kathy wants to kiss you!" This summer would be hell.   
"Huhn! And the girls haven't even arrived yet. Stupid, stupid busses!" she   
muttered once more.  
"Alex-chan!" She heard a voice behind her. Alex turned to see a short girl   
of her age, slim with short-rugged, almost-black hair and blue eyes, waving to   
her.  
"Anshi! You're here!"  
"No duh! It's the first day, of course I'd be here early." She looked   
around at all the teenagers sitting in the grass. She sat down as well. "Sssoo,"   
Anshi started, "I take it GG and Zzy aren't here yet?"  
"Nope."  
"Figures-"  
"Damn city buses," they muttered in unison. With that, they burst into   
laughter, rolling on the grass, drawing some strange looks. It's not like   
neither cared; they got that all the time. They were different, and rarely   
accepted. They laid on the ground and smiled.  
Maybe this summer won't be hell. Alex grinned foolishly. Aw, crap, I do   
this each summer! She grinned again and sat up to see those two strange boys.  
"Those two," she spoke dazedly, "make ya wonder, ya know, An?"  
"Yeah," she sat up. "Oh, well, they look like nice guys. They are kinda   
cute!" Anshi giggled.  
"To hell with cute guys, I could care less!"  
"To the candy shop-"  
"-with tissues!" Alex and Anshi sweatdropped. Candy and tissues meant only   
one thing. Zzy and GG were here.  
"GG!!!ZZY!!!! WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU!!!!! WHY DID YOUR BUSSES TAKE SO   
LONG?!"  
"Quiet, quiet, Alex," a girl with past-shoulder length hair pushed her   
raging friend off her. "We didn't take our busses. No one did!"  
Alex blinked. "Oh yeah."  
GG slapped her head and moaned, "City traffic is so friggin horrible!"  
"You can say that again!"   
Quatre and Trowa looked at all the mixes of teenage groups. "Uh, Quatre?"   
Trowa awkwardly asked.  
"Yeah, Trowa?"  
"Was this such a good idea?"  
"Aw, Trowa, come on! It…it wasn't like…uh…" Quatre smiled, trying to cover   
his own insecurity up. Trowa laughed a little at his friend's expression. Quatre   
laughed in return.  
"Trowa, did I just see you laugh?"  
"Um…well…"  
"Okay people!" They all heard a strong voice. All the teenagers looked to   
see a young woman and man holding clipboard. "Welcome to Pierce Camp. As you see,   
the usual routine follows. This is the teenager's side of the camp, but you   
probably already noticed. You all were not taken to camp today because of this   
orientation. Your names will be called alphabetically, and the boys will go with   
Tony," she pointed to the man, "and the girls come with me. Say, 'Here!' or   
raise your hand. Okay now. A, A, A…no A people. Let's start with B. Okay, Barton!   
Trowa Barton!" Trowa slowly raised his arm.   
"Aw Trowa!" The group of swooned girls fanaticized.  
"Oh, God, look at them," Alex slapped her head.  
"Baumen! Ari-"  
"My name is ZZY!!"  
The woman stared in blank confusion. "Okay, I can see she's here.   
Bloomfield! Alex Bloomfield!"  
"Hai!" Alex proudly waved her hand. The woman continued with the names   
until she got to the last one.  
"Winner! Quatre Winner!" She pronounced his name qua-trey.  
"Here!" Quatre raised his arm. "And ma'am, my name's pronounced Ca-tra."  
"Okay, then. That's the last! Now, we all know the drill. New people, this   
is pretty easy. Boys go with Tony and follow him to your cabin, girls come with   
me." She stopped as Tony whispered something to her and then looked at her watch.   
"Now, guys, we gotta move fast! We all got Archery together in five!" The woman,   
Kelly, waved to the girls and most got up, as did the boys. Alex looked at those   
two strange boys get up. So, Quatre and Trowa, huh? Well, she grinned, let's see   
how they do in archery.   
"Alex-chaaaan!!"  
"Hai! Coming!"   
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
The whole mess of teenagers walked over to the archery ranged, and whoever   
fit sat on the bench provided in the small, shady area. A medium-sized man in   
about his sixties was leaning on a crate, checking his role books. He looked up   
to see the area was crowded.  
"Ah," he smiled. "Boys and girls mixed today, huh? Well, this should be   
good."  
"Hey Bruce. Buddy, what's up?"  
"Tony! I'm good you?"  
The conversation continued, and Trowa leaned against the fence. He looked   
glum.  
"Hey, Trowa, what's wrong? I think you may be good at this." Quatre smiled   
weakly. Trowa didn't respond for a while. "Trowa?"  
"Quatre," he didn't bother to look up. Rather, he looked away. "Why are we   
hiding ourselves?"  
Quatre looked down as his face turn grim. "Trowa, I'm sorry. I knew the   
circus was your home, but I thought this would be better, since we don't have   
the Gundams. Abdul actually recommended this……"  
"That's not what I'm asking."  
"Huh?"  
"Why are we hiding? We don't exactly know if our suspicions are true."  
"But what if they are? We need to see if that Mobile Suit really exists.   
We don't have the Gundams anymore, and this could all mean serious trouble."  
"You're right," Trowa agreed. He sighed. "I just hope Heero's right."  
"Yeah, me too."  
"Okay, guys!" they heard the old man speak up. Let's start this-"  
"It's just-" Trowa started, "I wonder if this Mobile Suit really exists."  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
"Hmm?" Alex looked up. She thought she heard the word "mobile suit".   
"Alex, what's wrong?"  
"N-nothing, Anshi. I'm fine." Alex looked away, her expression turning   
back to concern. Who in the world said "Mobile Suit"? Crap! She winced, the   
voice was so unfamiliar. I gotta figure out who it was……  
Because I might have to kill them. 


	3. The First Interruption

A break from "A Different Side"  
SariaSubi: Well, now, I've written chapter one and am almost done with chapter two. This is an author's note: If you want to skip over chapters 1 and 2, you can, but they might be vital for later on. This now, like my prologue, is a flashback. In my prologue, we see Naomi Alex Atsui and her tragedy, and now she is leaving for Earth. In this flashback, we see what happens RIGHT BEFORE she left. Dada dada! And now, our feature presentation of this chapter-thingy.  
  
**FLASHBACK**  
  
"Flight 23004 for Earth leaving the L4 Colony Cluster in twenty-seven minutes. All passengers for this flight are expected to check in bags and board the plane."  
Naomi just sat in the airport with her headphones on, trying to blast them as loud as she could. She was getting agitated for some reason, she kept on switching CDs. Linkin Park wasn't good enough, neither was Good Charlotte or sum41, and for some reason she couldn't stand Nickelback. She leaned back in the airport chair. "What's wrong with me?" she whispered to the window revealing all the shuttles.  
The growl in her stomach was unbearable. Naomi just had to get some food. "Damn," she growled. "There ain't no food stops in here. Gotta go outside." She walked away from the space port, down the block and stopped. There were strange voices from down the alley. She slipped into the shadows and dropped her bag in an empty garbage can. She was going to be late, but she didn't care. Curiosity killed the cat, and she didn't care if she died at this point anymore.  
"Sir!" she heard a firm response, "nothing to report in this sector, sir!"  
"Very good," a smug voice came that immediately irked her, "you two soldiers carry on then. Alarm me if you see anything. Carry on, then!"  
"Yes sir!" the two soldiers responded. Naomi saw the man walk away, but, furrowing her brow, she turned back to the soldiers. Why would they be here? What in heaven's name did they want? To take over the colony?  
"Boy," the Oz cadet dropped his gun, "I can't believe this! More reports about Gundam attacks. For heaven's sake, this has been a problem since last December! And now it's AC 195, and I hated the bitter January on Earth. I guess I should be lucky I'm up here, huh Sam?"  
"Yeah, but those Gundam pilots have become quite a menace. I've heard that Treize hasta put out that new MS he's designing. The Gemini, they call it. He needs mechanics for it, though."  
"Say, have you heard about that mechanic company that lost that mechanic. And the little girl that survived?" Naomi let out a snort that she tried to mute. Little girl. She was NOT a little girl.  
"Uh-huh. I heard the general say that they could've used that mechanic that died. I wonder who killed'im."   
"Ya know, people are blaming OZ for it!"  
"I know!"  
"Jeez, everything is our fault these days."  
The other officer looked around. "We should get back to work, Jeff."  
"Right. I'll give you the report on my side in an hour."  
"Roger!"  
The two soldiers marched in different directions, leaving Naomi in the darkness. She turned back into the alley and slumped down to sit. "So," she thought aloud in a quiet voice, "Oz needs a new MS, huh? They would've used Julius, which means I would have come along." She winced as memories came flowing back. "Ungh, Julius." She started to shake as she sobbed. "Why did you die? I need you. You were my only friend. I miss you, Julius." She stopped and looked up the narrow way to the sky and realized she had to leave, NOW. But she lingered a moment longer. "Wait a moment, I get it. I can replace him, and, just maybe..." She thought of how much she hated OZ. A thought leapt into her mind. "That's it!" she jumped up. Naomi jumped up in jubilation, grabbed her bag, and ran as fast as any NFL linebacker to the space port.  
  
~~~~~  
She got there just in time, and in the shuttle, she put on her loud rock music as a treat for her great idea. 


	4. Strange Friendship, with a side of stran...

A Different Side- Chapter 2  
  
SariaSubi: Okay! I see some people(I hope) Have read my prologue. For a note, you may or may not want to read Chapter 1, as you may find it boring(chapter 1 is labeled as 2). The interruptions are important, though. They will be flashbacks on a soon-to-be major character. Soon, the second interruption will be up, and the camp area should conclude around this chapter, maybe the beginning of the next one. Well, I see we all have met Navi, as of Chapter 1, and now I would like you all to meet……(da da dun) Zzy-chan!   
Zzy: Moo!  
SariaSubi: Yes, very nice. Okay, let's recap!  
Zzy: I'm in the story!  
SariaSubi: Yes……yes, you are. Anywho, in Chapter 1 we see four best friends-  
Zzy: I'm one of'em!  
SariaSubi: *sweatdrop* Yes. We see four best friends at camp. We see Trowa and Quatre…at the same camp.  
Zzy: Could this be a meaningful, fate-lead, maybe even disastrous meeting? Da da dun!   
SariaSubi: ::smacks Zzy:: For Gundam's sake, you just gave everything away!  
Zzy: No, I didn't. All that stuff happens in Chap-  
SariaSubi: SHUT UP!! ::slaps forehead:: Why did I bring her? I better bring Marissa next time……  
Zzy: NOOO!!  
SariaSubi: SariaSubi-kun does NOT own Gundam Wing or any corresponding characters in it. Don't sue, you know the drill.  
Zzy: Sue? Someone's gonna sue us?!  
SariaSubi: *sweatdrop* Hopefully not………  
  
Chapter 2  
  
"Well, let's start the routine!" Bruce announced, grabbing the teenagers' attention. "We all know what to do. I explain the rules to the new people, and then we shoot, okay? Now, rule one is-"  
"Muuuuhhhh!" Alex dropped her head into her hands. "This is so boring! We all know the rules, why can't we just shoot? I can't believe this." She yawned and looked longingly at the archery range. It was one of the few things at this camp that she enjoyed. Would she ever have time?  
  
~~~~~~~   
  
"Come on, you old geezer!"  
"We wanna shoot!"  
"And I wanna flirt!" The girlies gushed over the two cute boys that only a few campers were separating them from. They kept their complaints to themselves, but their impatience was being shown to the whole group. They wanted to make these boys their boyfriends……NOW!  
"But, Bruce always orders us in alphabetical order! We might not all be able to see them!" Kathy complained.  
Clarissa smiled proudly. "Well, then, fear not girls! I, Clarissa Cohen, am C in the alphabet, right after B. I will lead us all to Trowa Barton!"  
They suddenly heard annoying bursts of laughter coming from next to them. Nonetheless, it was the two girls they loathed: Alex Bloomfield and "Zzy" Baumen.  
"Nu-uh-uh!" Alex waved her finger. "Ya still got me and Zzy in front of ya! Tough luck girls."  
Clarissa fumed. "Ooooooh! You're gonna pay for that!"  
Both smiled evilly. "Make us." Alex turned to Anshi and whispered into her ear, "Not that we like boys in the first place!" and then they all laughed again.  
They were all snapped back when Bruce announced that he would start calling people to shoot. "Oi, this is going to be hard, boys and girls mixed. I gotta switch from both lists. You kids are a crank in the neck," he teased, causing a few giggles, and then he started again, "now you all know you all may not get to shoot today, right?"  
"Right," the teenagers mechanically responded.  
"Well then, let's start with A." He paused. "There is no A. All right now," he fixed his glasses, "B. We need our first B…… Barton. Trowa Barton."  
"Yes," Trowa responded quietly and quite expressionless as he left his leaning place on the fence next to Quatre.  
"Take Circle 1," he gently instructed as he watched Trowa go under the chain and into the target area. Bruce looked back at his role book. "Now the girls, eh? Let's see here……" He scanned his lists again, and looked up with a foolish grin. "Uh-oh," he smiled, "we got the Dynamic Duo here. Zzy Baumen and Alex Bloomfield, our girl's champion." Alex and Zzy shot up proudly. "Take Circle 2 and 3 you two. Now, C. We got a boy now-" Zzy stood on Circle 2 and frowned, then looking over at Alex.  
"Alex-chan."  
"Yeah, Zzy?"  
"I don't like Target 2. Can we switch?"  
Alex looked a little puzzled at first. Why would Zzy do something like this? It wasn't like she wasn't ever on Circle 2 before. Her eyebrows rose. "Are you sure?"  
"Nya-huh!" she smiled as she shook her head, switching spots with her best friend.  
When Alex situated herself in position, she realized who she was next to. It was that strange guy, Trowa Barton. He wasn't doing anything, just leaning on the fence with his arms crossed. What was he thinking? Why such an expressionless face?  
She let out a bewildered breath and looked down and at her target. She was surprised when she heard a voice that wasn't Zzy's talk to her. "Girl's champion, huh?"  
Alex whizzed around. Did that guy just talk to her? "Y-yeah. I am."  
"You any good at this?" She looked confused. If she was the champion, why wouldn't she be good at this?  
"I am," she repeated. She then thought where this might go, striking a smile on her face. "How bout you?"  
Trowa didn't answer. He just stared at the target and left Alex befuddled.  
He decided to answer the question as if he asked it himself. "Just pointing another gun……"  
Alex raised her eyebrows. "I'll take that as a yes?" she muttered sarcastically to herself. I dunno why the girls love him, she thought. He's a strange, strange guy. She wanted to say, "Introvert," but held her tongue. She had a sure feeling he would hear her.  
As soon as all twelve circles were filled, Bruce walked in front of the stationed campers. "Okay," he held his hands up as he raised his voice. "I'll instruct you through the first arrow, and then you can shoot your other arrows. Now kids, you might not all be able to shoot, but I'll try to get you all in as soon as possible. It's a new year, let's all start off slow."  
Alex grunted and picked up her arrow and loaded it onto her bow, ignoring Bruce's instructions. She looked over at Trowa, surprised he did the same. But how? He was a new guy!  
"Trowa, your name is?"  
"Yes," he responded without looking at her.  
"You good at this?"  
Bruce started hollering directions.  
"Yes."  
"Raise your bow!"  
"How good?" she challenged.  
"Pull back on the string!"  
"I'm gonna get a bullseye," she smirked.  
"We'll see."  
"All the way……and…FIRE!!!!"  
Everyone let go and watched the arrows fly. Some complained of the string hitting their arm, and some of their aim. Zzy jumped as she almost got a bullseye, but unfortunate for her skills, it wasn't likely the actual thing would happen. Alex just stood shocked.  
There it was, her arrow, on the edge of the yellow circle in the center of Target 2. And of course, Trowa's arrow, dead center of his target.  
"H-h-h……h-how…"  
"Your aim is pretty good," he stated flatly, "I have to say, since looking at everyone else, you and I got the only bullseyes."  
"I g-guess," she still stuttered, "B-but h-how could you-?"  
"You wanted to know how good I was." His eyes……so distant. This Trowa Barton, so tall, distant, soft spoken. Making you want to know more. Alex dropped her bow to her side. The voice from before...about the mobile suits. His seemed to match it. But what was she to do now? No ordinary person could find out about the new mobile suit, so……  
So an idea danced in her head, carrying a big sign that said, "Listen to me, baka!" Alex turned towards Trowa and slowly, dangerously slowly, and so seriously, extended her arm towards him, slightly startling him out of his daze.  
"Hm?"  
"Alex Bloomfield," she spoke softly, looking up to him.  
And for some reason, his features hardened as well as he extended his arm towards her at the same speed she had hers.  
"Trowa Barton."  
~~~~~~~~~~  
Quatre watched all the, what seemed like action, from the outside of the separation chain. Arrows whizzed past his face.  
"Wow, Trowa is doing pretty good for his first day here. I wonder how I'll do." He looked at the two bullseye targets next to each other. "That other girl is pretty good as well. I didn't know how good Trowa was. He's doing as good as the champion!"  
"Well of course Alex-chan is good. She's da best! Better than any guy, hands down....I think."   
"Zzy thinks. Pigs should be falling from the sky. I wonder why they haven't started, do you know why, Anshi?"  
"Nuuuu!"   
"Go back to missing the target!"  
"Huh?" Quatre raised his eyebrows towards a two girls; one small with short, rugged black-brown hair, and another with brown hair up in a ponytail almost at his height.  
And both girls seemed embarrassed.  
"Eheheheh……gomen-nasai! My name's Anshi Shuukaku. And this is GG Mernon," the small girl pointed to the taller girl behind her, who just eyed Quatre suspiciously. He noticed it right away and slightly backed off.  
"You look familiar, though I can't put my finger on it," she finally spoke.  
Both Quatre and Anshi looked at her. Anshi turned back to Quatre. "Oh! This is Quatre Rebarba Winner! I am so honored to meet you!" she gave a small bow.  
Quatre smiled. "No need for formalities, please. I'm glad to meet you, too. Both of you." Then he turned away to watch his friend again.  
Anshi's expression turned to seriousness, and she looked back towards GG and walked close to her. "Please tell me that's the only way you recognize him."  
GG backed away. "And what if it wasn't?"  
"GG!" she tried to keep her plead discreet.  
"I have seen him before. The name Quatre Rebarba Winner rings a bell."  
"You're avoiding the question!"  
"So what? Maybe if you checked your database every once in a while and didn't constantly badger the rest of us, you would know," she continued to mock her.  
Anshi's eyebrows furrowed and she gritted her teeth in anger. "Wait until we leave here. I'll-I'll……"  
"Oh no," she mocked her again, pretending to be worried, "what's the great Mari-"  
"GG, no!" she quickly jumped up and covered her mouth.  
She grunted and apologized unsympathetically. "Che, sorry. It wont happen again."  
"Good," she lowered herself. "Now let's go and cheer Zzy and Alex on, ne?"  
"Fine."  
"Quatre," Anshi started, causing him to look away from the target area. "I'm surprised at how good your friend is on his first day. What is his name?"  
"Trowa. Trowa Barton." He laughed on the inside. He said it the exactly the way Trowa would have three years ago.  
"Uun, Trowa. I see." That's when the conversation died.  
~~~~~~  
Later, Zzy, GG, and Anshi walked away from the archery range.   
"That was fun, minna-san!"   
Anshi and GG twitched uneasily as they stared at her. "Of course it was for you. We didn't get to shoot because Bruce ran out of time. You did horribly, though, Zzy-chan. Alex whooped your ass. Her 400 and you 45? Man, that is sad."  
"Shuddup! You're lucky you didn't go, or otherwise you and Anshi would have lost terribly!"  
"Eh…Zzy-chan…"  
"Hey guys, where is Alex anyway? AH! GG, let go of Zzy's neck, please!" she cried.  
"Fine," she released the girl. "I dunno where she is. Probably found a nickel or somethin'."  
"A nickel? Where? Where?" Zzy looked frantically.  
"Moron!" GG slapped her over the head.   
Anshi looked back towards where they had come from. Where was Alex? ~~~~~~~~~  
It seemed that Trowa and Quatre purposely stayed behind the crowd to seclude themselves, especially from the girls that were obsessively swooning over them. Alex stayed behind as well, pretending to tie her shoe. She watched them from the corner of her eye.  
But Trowa was watching her as well. It seemed she was taking a very long time to tie one shoe lace. Though she seemed different. She wasn't there because she was swooning. She seemed…suspicious of them.  
I have to hear him talk again, she thought. Or else I'll never be sure who's voice it was.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
Clarissa brushed her flowing blond hair behind her ear. "I wonder where Trowa is? I must make him mine!"  
"No war, Rissa, he's mine. I so saw him first!" Michelle ran her hand through her long brown hair.  
"You wanna say that again?"  
"Hey, hey, guys," Rachel held up her hands. "We always have Quatre!" She still pronounced it qua-trey. "And we have Petey, Mikey, and Brad! They're still available!"   
"They're not as good! And--oh, Rissa," Kathy looked at Clarissa's belt, "somethin's beeping. There's a light flashing," she pointed to the girl's belt.  
"Oh no!" Clarissa gasped. "Not now, not now, notnownotnow!"  
"What is it?" Michelle raised her eyebrows.  
"I don't want them to contact me now! I'm not even close!" she cried, totally serious.  
"Wait, close to what?" Kathy neared her. "Who is contacting you?"  
Clarissa looked up grimly, startling her friends with her seriousness.  
"Noz."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~   
Quatre, Trowa, and Alex were locked in a stare down. She felt uneasy that the two were eying her like that. Great, she thought. I better save myself.  
She put on a smile. "You guys new here?"  
They both looked at each other. That was strange, they seemed to both think. They didn't answer.  
She twitched in annoyance. "I'll take that……as a yes?"  
Quatre stuttered. "H-hai. We are."  
"Ah, so…you two related?"  
"Yes," Trowa answered without moving. "Distant cousins."  
"Eh…" She struggled for something to say when she looked to her left. "Ah! The group's leaving!" Quatre blinked his eyes. "Well, come on!" The three of them started walking slowly the same route the larger group of teenagers walked. Alex looked at the two boys. "Did you just move here or somethin? It's kind of a late age to enter Pierce, ya know."  
Quatre struggled with something to say. He looked at Trowa for help, but it seemed his fellow ex-Gundam pilot was either in his own world or struggling for words as well and just wasn't showing it. He finally remembered the address to their makeshift home they were occupying until they investigated the situation with the MSs some more. What was the name of the city again? He just knew that it was a small, yet what the neighboring small-town people would call "luxurious" house. He glanced back at the girl who was looking questioningly at him.  
"Uh, we just moved into a small house in…"  
"Yokota-atte," Trowa helped finally.  
"No lie?" Alex asked them. When she saw there was seriousness about the subject, she spoke up, "I live in that town. They just built three new houses by my house. You probably just moved into one of those." Both of them shrugged with the same thought on their minds: If they had someone from this place living near them, they could find some info out that they would regret. They had to be extra cautious now.  
"We just joined because we needed some occupation this summer. There would be nothing else to do."  
"You certainly think so, but I don't." This brought the attention on her. "With Noz out, a lot of people our age here are trying to join Noz and become MS pilots our small time agents or whatever the organization gives them for a job."  
Quatre couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Excuse me, 'Noz'?"  
Alex stared at him seriously. So they don't know about it. They couldn't possibly be…Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw Trowa wasn't responding. Was he doing that on purpose? She wanted an answer from both of them.  
"Both of you have no idea what Noz is?" she noted, slightly craning her neck to see if Trowa would respond.  
Quatre saw this, but didn't know the reason behind it, so he responded to help her out, "I don't. Trowa?" They waited in silence.  
"No."  
"Well, just ask around. A lot of people are going in for training. Oh, here, this is where we part. The boy's bunker in that way, see?" she pointed. "Mine's that way. See ya guys around." She waved as she ran off.  
Trowa's eyes narrowed as he mulled over the girl's words. "Noz" sounded far too much like "Oz" The names were so similar that it caused him discomfort. He remembered how she was looking at him whenever she asked questions, as if she knew Quatre wouldn't know the answers and he would. Another uncomfortable situation.  
He also had a strange feeling about her. Alex Bloomfield, but what was it? He didn't know the thoughts his friend was thinking.  
  
~~~~~  
Quatre shifted in his chair. He felt weird. For the last few weeks, the two boys gained a mutual friendship with their neighbor, Alex Bloomfield, but Quatre felt something about her of which he himself had no idea what it was.   
He straightened himself as he started playing his violin. He could sense Trowa in the room, though he knew his friend would not join in for a duet. The clicking he heard indicated that Trowa was on his laptop. So he continued playing, glancing out the window. He almost stopped when he saw that Alex was leaning out her window. Apparently, she noticed him, smiled, and gave the peace sign, seemingly enjoying the show of his talents.  
He continued. Over the past few weeks, he had learned Alex was a musician as well; she played the guitar, and he and Trowa could sometimes hear her practicing with Anshi playing along on her drum set.  
Both boys noticed that the frequent visits of those girls from camp. At Alex's house, they changed quickly from their lively behavior to utter seriousness. Anshi came most frequently and seemed to be the only one who smiled at Alex at their "meetings." Not that the two wanted to spy or eavesdrop.  
But there was something about these four that just wasn't right. 


	5. The Second Interruption

A Different Side  
  
By SariaSubi-kun  
  
SariaSubi: SariaSubi here with GG  
  
GG: Hey!  
  
SariaSubi: Well, the reviews are very short in number. I am so desperate, I thought I'd send one to myself. GG: Pathetic, huh?   
  
SariaSubi: Shuddup  
  
Well, let's see those reviews! I have some shoutouts though.  
  
Lil' Kai Girl: Thanx a bunch for consistently reading my story! You've sent two reviews! Thank you...and guess what? I updated!  
  
Spooky: Me? Suspenseful in this story? Thanx for the compliments! I am writing more! Hehe..  
  
And here is the Second Interruption! One more thing: Chapter 2 is labeled as Chapter 4, mostly because I have a prologue and interruptions, such as this, so even thought I would have, say four chapters, it would probably say I have eight(I did the math with and interruption in between each chapter), but now that that confusion's out of the way, let's get on with the Second interruption.  
  
Last interruption, we see Naomi leaving L4 for Earth, despite her father's intentions for her to stay.  
  
The Second Interruption  
  
"Are you serious?"  
  
"Yes, father. I overheard them. I'm sure you got the message from Oz about the mission on earth and you didn't tell me, ne?"  
  
"Urm...I'm sorry, Naomi-chan. With Julius gone, I thought..."  
  
"Father, you're apologizing to a thirteen-year old. Stop it."  
  
"Do not tell me to stop anything, Naomi Alex Atsui. You are going to inherit this enterprise one day, but you just run away from it. If anything, I would have told you about the mission if I had a mechanic team, but I don't."  
  
"Why can't I just gather some people here on Earth and do the job."  
  
"That just might work. I'll contact Oz and pull some strings and see if you can lead the team." Naomi patiently waited for a week until she phoned her father again. This time, she was allowed to go to the Oz base with a team of mechanics sent from Atsui Enterprises.  
  
When the team arrived at the base, Naomi started to feel like a little girl again, looking around in wonder. So this is infiltration feels like, she thought to herself. She felt that she was inside the enemy's parlor.  
  
"Step into my parlor," said the spider to the fly.  
  
"Naomi Atsui! Report to the colonel's office!"   
  
~~~~~~~  
  
"Naomi Atsui, the daughter of the famous Yosonan Atsui, who helped build the Winner Resource satellite, eh?" the colonel who seemed in his thirties looked Naomi over.  
  
She stood frigid. "Yes, sir."  
  
Naomi didn't know if the expression on his face was a smirk or not, but she wanted to rub it off with a knife, she automatically hated him.   
  
"The team you are leading is supposed to design one of the most ultimate MSs. A MS that is stronger than the Gundams by far. Oz is planning to unleash this ultimate weapon on the Gundams and destroy them once and for all. We cannot let our grasp over the colonies weaken. Do you understand me, Naomi Atsui?"  
  
She nodded. "Yes, sir."  
  
"Good. I understand you're the cream of the crop in this enterprise, the assistant of the," he slowed down, "famous Julius Evakenzie?"   
  
"Yes, sir." She wished she had a knife.  
  
"Well, then I put my trust in your skills. I'll get you the blueprints." He disappeared behind a divider and Naomi heard the sound of some clicks. Must be opening a safe, she thought. He came back from behind the divider and handed the roll of blueprints to her.  
  
"Here you are. Take extreme care of them. I would ask the scientists we have caught in outer space who built the Gundams to do this, but I want to place this in the hands of someone who doesn't support the Gundam cause. Doesn't that make sense?"  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
He smirked for sure this time, leaving Naomi having to check her reflex to stab him. She hated his perverted smirking. "I'm glad you understand. Well, I suggest you go out to the field. Get the job done as quickly as possible, we don't want anyone to find out about our little project." His grin grew. "We want to surprise our little Gundam pilots."  
  
"Yes, sir." She left the room clutching the plans.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~  
  
A few hours passed as the men from her team finally started getting to work after getting the required parts and metals together. As they were finishing up for the day, Naomi lingered. In the back of the working field, there was another hangar with a carrier. Making sure no one was in the building, she quickly shot the security cameras. This was her chance!  
  
Naomi loaded a transporter truck with the whatever parts were created and drove it over to the hangar. In the hangar, she quickly loaded the contents on to the carrier plane. She heard vehicles coming her way, so she knew she had to hurry. Just as flashlights appeared in the hallway, she jumped into the cockpit.  
  
I want to place this in the hands of someone who doesn't support the Gundam cause. Doesn't that make sense?  
  
If only he knew.  
  
The plane was started up when the footsteps entered the hangar. Her fingers glided across the controls, but Naomi knew she wasn't going to be a passenger. Or a pilot.  
  
"Hey! What are you doing!" she ignored them, and the plane started to move. That's when she started the change of her lifetime. Naomi set the plane on automatic pilot for about three miles, in the direction of the neighboring woods. She knew after the three miles, it would need a pilot to land it, or it would crash, destroying everything inside. Naomi jumped out of the cockpit as the plane took flight.  
  
"There she is!" She landed on her arm, knowing she broke it, but she didn't care. She still had the plans. She ran out of the hangar and into another one, her pursuers following her closely.  
  
She was running out of breath. As strong as she was, she was still only a thirteen-year-old girl. These were grown men who were chasing her.   
  
She found an opening in the next hangar and dashed towards it.  
  
Well, then I put my trust in your skills.  
  
You never should have, colonel. Oz will never see the Gemini.  
  
Naomi just exited the hangar and wanted to stop for a breath. Just for a second, she thought.  
  
Gun shots rang out through the night. The last the guards saw was a bleeding, limping figure heading to the woods, the plane flying above. They couldn't see anymore into the dark, but they heard the sound of a body collapsing.  
  
Naomi Alex Atsui was dead. 


	6. Goodbye, Alex, but will we really cross ...

A Different Side  
  
SariaSubi: Sorry I was in such a writer's block, minna-san! With all these other fics I'm putting up, it's hard to maintain my first and most original one. I put the second interruption up. I think it's so cool, the suspense. Suspense is my thing, I guess. I also have school, so it's also hard with the finals coming up. Just to tell the complete setting, it is the summer of A.C 197, just in case I didn't tell that (I can't remember!). Trowa and Quatre (and the rest of the Gundam pilots) are seventeen, while Alex and friends are sixteen.  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Camp time at Pierce was nearing into the beginning of August. Trowa and Quatre found that Noz was trying to take in as many people as they could. Soon, more than half of their age group were training to be Noz soldiers.  
  
They figured that, since when Oz found out that they were around fifteen when they were Gundam pilots, Noz was taking in people of the same age. Noz seemed to be some sort of military and acted as an Army. The United States accepted it and let it become the main army of the country. Countries in Europe were soon doing the same thing, welcoming the change. One day, when Alex invited herself over to the boys' house, as the news came on, a Noz speaker told the world that Noz was a new form of stronger and more firm military that would change military action to the appeal and protection of the world.  
  
"Bullshit," Alex spat.  
  
"Why?" Quatre looked at her.  
  
She gave him a leveled look. "Have you noticed that the only people in our age group at camp are the people who are extremely weak and my friends and I? Firmer military? The whole world will be enlisted in this Noz soon enough." Trowa and Quatre quite enjoyed her cooking, so she was over more often, and she usually told what she knew about Noz. She said that GG was thinking of joining Noz, but her parents would "let her go off to die." GG didn't want to join Noz because everyone else was, she said. She just wanted to know how to pilot a Leo. All that Alex really told was that Noz was a military system. A dumb and stupid military, but just one that was power hungry. But Trowa and Quatre still felt that Noz sounded too much like the evilness of Oz.   
  
~~~~~a few days later~~~~~  
  
By the time a huge moving truck that took up the whole block arrived in front of Alex's house, Quatre was in his living room, playing his violin beautifully. He let the sound encase his soul, enrapture him, as he felt himself drifting in the music. Anyone nearby would have been as well, but no one would be able to hear through the sound of the truck. He was slightly perturbed as the sound interrupted him.  
  
He stepped outside. Trowa was probably checking for notice from Heero or the others or sleeping. Quatre's eyes fell upon a huge truck driving away. The driver, he could barely see to the side mirror, seemed familiar, but the picture wasn't clear. His attention turned to Alex, who was standing before an identical truck to the one that just drove away. He decided to go over to her and ask her what was going on.  
  
"Huh? Quatre?"  
  
"Alex, are you moving?"  
  
She sighed and touched the side of the truck, looking up at her house. "Yes. I'm going to miss this house, miss calling it the Bloomfield residence. But I've got to move. I mean, it really isn't the Bloomfield home anymore, anyways, because my parents are long dead."  
  
"I'm sorry," he lowered his head. He about her parents for a long time, but he couldn't help but feel remorse. His parents were dead as well. "Where are you moving?"  
  
She stopped. All of a sudden, she turned to him, her expression changing rapidly. Quatre thought he saw Heero in her eyes. "I can't tell you," she said without emotion, as if she wanted to push him away. "It's, uh, business."  
  
"Oh," he felt the tension. "Okay."  
  
She looked into his eyes, seeing his persistence fading. "Sorry." There was an awkward silence. "But I'm glad I met you Quatre." He looked up into a hopeful smile. "Trowa as well. Just wish I could see the guy smile more." She shrugged and looked up.  
  
Quatre watched her look at the sky. "Will I ever see you again?"  
  
Alex eyed him from the corner of her eye. "We all will cross paths again, Quatre. I know it." She paused and took a step towards the truck. "When ya least expect it."  
  
She climbed into the truck, looking out from the driver's window. She warned Quatre, "Tell Trowa not to follow me." His eyes widened, but she only let out a small laugh. "He has been suspecting me for the past few days. I really don't know what for," she seemed calm, almost like Duo, "but I don't want him to sneak into my personal business. See ya." The disturbing sound of the truck filled Quatre's ears again as the truck drove away, the sound of it becoming softer and softer.   
  
"So she knows. Her instincts are better and sharper than I thought. Smarter, too. I'll have to be more careful next time with my suspicions." Quatre turned to the soft voice and looked at Trowa.  
  
"Trowa, why didn't you tell me?"  
  
Trowa gave a sigh and shrugged. "Wouldn't the suspicion be on us if both of us looked questioning? I know her behavior would change if she sensed both of us being suspicious. She was only acting a little different because she sensed my curiosity, but remained regular when you were present."  
  
"I don't understand. I thought she was a friend of ours."  
  
He eyed Quatre cautiously, not sure if her wanted top explain the rest. But he had already said to much, and what was he doing mistrusting his best friend? He decided to continue. "Who knows if she is? I saw something a few days ago. It was late, and you were asleep, but I saw something strange."  
  
Quatre leaned forward. "Trowa, tell me, please!"  
  
"Quatre, those trucks you saw couldn't possibly be carrying furniture." Quatre's eyes widened, but Trowa expected as much. "A few days ago, some charity and furniture store salesmen came over and looked at her house. They took a lot of furniture out. Those two trucks......even if they did carry furniture, you could fit that entire house's contents into half of one of those giants. Why need two?" Quatre saw it was a rhetorical question, and let Trowa continue. "Of all that was taken, only a few small things like a computer, television, etcetera, were left. And the driver in the first truck-no doubt in was Anshi Shuukaku." Quatre remembered. The small girl among Alex's friends. "She looked like she was ignoring Alex, however, which is unusual. You yourself know that every time the others come over, Anshi is the only one who doesn't seem to ignore Alex. But when those three have been over lately, they all grew more serious as this as this day drew nearer. And, call me spying, I never saw them in any regular rooms in that house. Only a room that seemed to have a computer. I know that's not that suspicious, it could just be Alex's room, but everything else is. Didn't you notice. Our GUNDAMS could fit in those trucks. Or any MSs like them."  
  
We will cross paths again, Quatre.  
  
He thought over her last words. Sooner than you think.  
  
But what could she have been doing? What really was in the truck? He looked to where she had smiled goodbye.   
  
"Well, no use standing outside. I'm going in. You coming? Quatre?" Quatre blinked and turned around.  
  
"Yeah, sure," flashing a reassuring smile. As he walked back to the house, he had the strange feeling again. Why did it come up every time he thought of her? He shrugged it away. He would sleep on it and rethink this all in the morning.  
  
~~~~meanwhile~~~~  
  
A gigantic truck arrived in a forest that seemed distant from civilization. By the time it arrived, it was long past dark. The driver stepped out, looking up to the sky, birds flying out of the trees.  
  
"Man, this place brings back horrible memories."  
  
"Hey, you," a stern voice called to her. "Get over here."  
  
"I know you all don't want to be here," she started.  
  
"Shut up and get over here." 


	7. The Path of Destruction is Opened

A Different Side By SariaSubi-kun SariaSubi: Haha! An update! Wow, I am so proud of myself for writing thin one! And it's eight pages (well, seven and one line) long! I think you'll REALLY like the suspense in this one!  
  
"Master Quatre," Rashid stood before the limousine, "are you sure we cannot accompany you to the hotel?"  
Quatre smiled and shook his head. "Rashid, thank you, but I'm fine." Quatre stepped out of the luxury car and into the hotel he was staying at. Meanwhile, he didn't notice who was standing in the phone booth only a few yards away from him. What he did notice, however, was a gigantic cargo truck. A thought struck him for a second, but he shook it away. This was a docking station he was nearby. There were tons of cargo trucks here.  
In the phone booth a few yards away, a young blue-haired girl about sixteen cursed as she saw Quatre walk into the hotel. When the telephone picked up, she spoke in.  
"Yes? Uh-huh. Just a single room. Yeah, I'm alone. Fifty a night for me? Sure, that's good. The bags there? Thank you. I'll be over in a bit." She sighed as she hung up the phone and took out a pen.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
"Major Sally! There is a report of a new MS moving towards the San Francisco area! I think you may want to check it out!"  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
Quatre walked down the hall of the Holiday Inn and rested himself against the wall of the corridor. Luckily, since he was alone, not that many people noticed him. As much as he appreciated the Maganacs and their company, he just needed to be alone. Or at least with someone his own age.  
Scary how things happen right when you think of them.  
Yawning, a teenage girl with light brown hair yawned and stretched her arms over her head, yawning and complaining miserably.  
"Stupid fate," she muttered to herself. Nothing was going as she had planned. Nothing. "And this hotel is really boring," she muttered to herself again, expecting no one else to be in the hallway. She cursed in Japanese as she saw who was leaning against the wall. He was bound to notice her, but she tried to sneak past him anyways.  
Quatre looked up at the sound of talking and was surprised at what he saw. Maybe he was right about the stupid cargo truck. Either way, he never expected her to be here,  
"A-Alex?" his eyes widened at the sight of her. Maybe it wasn't at the fact that she was here. Somehow, he found himself blushing.  
She put her weight to her side and crossed her arms. "You know, I told you we would meet again. Sooner than ya think."  
His thoughts lingered on what she had said right before she had left. She had said the exact same thing.  
He smiled. "It's good to see you, Alex." He got off his place on the wall and started walking with her.  
"Yeah, you too. So, here on Quatre Rebarba Winner business?"  
He nodded. "Yeah, but I have to say, it's-"  
"A pain in the ass?"  
"Exactly," he agreed with her.  
"Yeah, well, I'm on business too."  
"You are?" His eyebrows rose.  
"Ur,.,." she stuttered, as if realizing a mistake she made. She slapped her head and was silent for a moment. Looking up, she saw she was making Quatre even more suspicious. "Yeah, it seems I have a cousin in town. He wanted me to come over. I might move in with him."  
"Oh." The silence fell between them like a wall. Quatre looked over to her for the hundredth time, this time noticing what was strapped to her back. It was a guitar case.  
"Alex?"  
"Yeah," she immediately knew what he was asking, "I'm playing a few gigs in towns here and there to earn money. Just at small time places."  
"I've heard you before. You're pretty good."  
She finally smiled. "Thanks, man." By the time they had stopped walking, they found themselves at the door of the Holiday Inn. Alex looked out the glass door and spotted something that satisfied her.  
"Hey, Quatre," she looked to him, "wanna get lunch?"  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
Wufei sighed unhappily as he looked at the map of the San Francisco area. Things in the Preventers had finally calmed down a bit. But no, the new Mobile Suit that Heero had warned the former-Gundam pilots about was real. And it was close to where Quatre was.  
"Do you think we should warn Quatre?" Sally asked him from across the table with the map spread out.  
Wufei shook his head. "I don't do much with the other pilots. If anything, the others should warn him."  
Sally frowned. "Wufei, he is your friend, isn't he?"  
"Maybe, but I do my own work."  
"And your own justice, right?" she muttered under her breath. It seemed that he had heard her. Angry, he whipped his head around and glared at her. He parted his lips as if he was going to say something, but he kept his mouth shut and walked out of the room in silence.  
Sally sighed and looked at the ceiling, hoping for an answer. There he went again, his fiery temper. She never really could remember him actually smiling about anything, but she knew; that was just like Chang Wufei.  
"Well, then, I'll contact someone who will actually care..no, I'll contact Quatre myself."  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
San Francisco was well lit at night. Quatre looked out over the town and thought it looked just wonderful. He needed something to smile about.  
Alex had seemed so distant that day. She had invited him to lunch, but it was like right afterwards, she wanted to get rid off him as soon as possible. What was up with her?  
He was thinking of going to sleep; he had a stupid business meeting tomorrow. He slipped under the covers and thought about drifting off to sleep..  
But none of San Francisco could sleep that night. And some people in that town slept their last.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
Screams were inevitable to drown out. They were the music of the city. Fire was sweeping over the large city like wind. Some people in the unfortunate building caught on fire, screamed. They felt their skin burn, the fire burning into their veins. They screamed as the fires consumed them.  
Others were shot to death by bullets. There was nothing they could do as a large mechanical death angel stood over them, some other pedestrians dying as the blood flowed out from under it's feet; the mecha had crushed the bodies it walked on and blew the humans below it apart with it's bullets that no soul could live through.  
Quatre rushed out of him room and ran down the stairs to the Holiday Inn's lobby. Maybe Alex was down there. He couldn't leave his friend here.  
There was no way to get through the mayhem. The glass doors where shattered and the smoke from outside was billowing in. Bullets were raining in and hitting anyone who was dumbstruck by the tragedy. Quatre rushed up the stairs to the second floor, but it was almost as bad as the first. He knew that the higher up he went, the more time he had to think of what to do. He knew Alex was on the third floor.  
"Alex!" he rammed his fist violently on the door. "Come one! We've got to get out of here! San Francisco is about to be blown apart!" He knocked violently, but there was no answer. Quatre put his head on the door and let out a sob of frustration, but he knew he shouldn't give up. She could be injured and dying in there, he thought. He had to do something. He ran down the hall as an idea popped into his head. He found the nearest fire hose and fax. He threw open the box with the hose inside and used the metal end to break open the case holding the ax. Grabbing the ax, he remembered he could have just used his gun, but he dismissed the thought as he ran back to her room. Lifting the fire ax over his head, he let it fall down on the lock, the piece of metal dropping to the floor with the ax. Quatre kicked open the door with all his might and it opened, then fell to the floor with the hinges. "Alex!" he called out. He finally stepped into the room, and..  
It was empty.  
Nothing, no one was in it.  
The dresser was thrown open, yet completely empty. The closets were empty, nothing inside. It was like Alex was never in the room before.  
Quatre quivered, and in his final act of frustration, he fell to his knees and screamed, "WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!"  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
Quatre rushed up to his room on the fifth floor to gather his things. It was a stupid act when the whole city was on fire, but he needed to call Rashid.  
His phone was just picking up a message when he slammed the door open.  
"Quatre!" the voice called out urgently. "If you can hear me, kid..Listen, the new Mobile Suit is attacking San Francisco! Quatre, you have to get out of there! Another new suit is attacking Munich in Germany, and another in London! Quatre, get out of there!"  
He couldn't believe it. No, it couldn't be true. What kind of being would pilot such a murderer? When he piloted the Sandrock, at least he attacked the BAD GUYS. This was slaughter.  
In panic, he ran out of the Holiday Inn, praying he wouldn't be killed. All thoughts of Alex left him.  
  
A sick grin spread across the navy-haired teenager's face as she flicked another switch, watching the building crumble. She knew she was killing, but it never occurred to her that this was a bad thing.  
"This is justice," she smirked, "just with a few sacrifices. The Gundam pilot here WILL die!" More bullets and rockets fired out of the black mobile suit as she laughed. "Nothing can beat the Black Gemini!"  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
His chest heaved up and down heavily. Quatre was out of breath, and it seemed the mobile suit was following him. It had caught sight of him, and was shooting and him as he ran, of course, not really caring if it killed innocents in the process.  
Quatre found an alley where he thought he could buy some time. His shirt was soaked with sweat and his legs were getting hot under his pants. He didn't know if it was from the fire or the constant running from the MS.  
He said to himself through his breathing, "I wish..Heero.had said." he looked up at the flames, "if the Mobile Suit...was on our side..."  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
"Come out here, Gundam Pilot!" Her smirk grew. She laughed at the misfortune of the tiny ants squashed beneath her that used to be human souls. She felt dominance, she felt alive.  
The vibration of the explosions throbbed in her fingers at the controls. Tire tracks ran down her veins as the car went into overdrive. Her adrenaline was in a rush, a constant race in her heartbeat. Her chest was heaving also, but her life force was at high.  
She grinned as she looked at a meter on the control panel. "My life force is off the charts. Heheh," she breathed, sweat pouring down her cheeks, "I'll have him dead in a bit, Black Gemini. We'll give you a rest, okay?" Her breath was getting heavy as her chest heaved up and down. Her navy blue hair stuck to her forehead and her neck as she turned to the screen that showed the outside world.  
"Eheheh," she breathed heavily, "San Francisco, destroyed. And a dead girl is responsible." Her sick grin widened as she pushed forward on the levers that her gloved hands held.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
"No," Quatre coughed, "it's coming closer." It wasn't just closer; the machine was looming right over him, it's large gun pointed right at him. Gods, he thought, that gun must be larger the Heavyarms'.  
He was struck still. Was he going to die here? It was a tragic way to die, looking at it. But no, he couldn't die here. He just couldn't! There had to be something to stop it. Besides, according to Major Sally, there were others.  
The sound of bullets scraping metal exploded in his ears. As Quatre looked behind him, he saw Mobile Suits shooting at the black death angel. It stumbled a bit, but it didn't turn around.  
Quatre stood shocked. Both the Maganacs and Preventers were shooting at this MS, yet it was barely moving, or being affected  
"Quatre, I'm not letting ANY distractions prevent me from killing you. Those pathetic Mobile Suits can try, but they make no effect."  
Quatre was struck. The machine's pilot was talking to him.  
It was a girl's voice.  
"Please!" he pleaded to the mecha, "stop this! If you want to kill me, kill me, but stop killing these innocent people! What did they ever do to you?"  
"What?" the voice mocked, "these Mobile Suits are blasting me so loud to try to destroy me that I can't hear you, Quatre Rebarba Winner!"  
Quatre shook his head. In front of him was his possible end and behind that was a barrage of Mobile Suits trying to protect him, even though they were making no effect on the new MS.  
The pilot inside tilted her head, her sick grin showing even more. "Now," she said breathlessly, "you die." Slowly, with satisfaction, she pulled the trigger back.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
*Flashback*  
  
"Marissa, are you sure you're fit to be a Gemini pilot?" The cold blue eyes stared down at the small girl with scorn. She looked down on her as if she was a weak insect.  
And she couldn't believe it. She had saved her when she was dying in that forest. She remembered the day she stumbled upon the body. She had been shot at least five times and was basically dead. But no, little alone Marissa used her medical skills to save her. Then she left and left Marissa alone again.  
And then Marissa ran into Arielle.  
"What are you talking about? Of course I am! I helped design the new version!"  
That didn't seem to faze her. "And?" she cocked an eyebrow.  
"And," she started, "that means that there's a Gemini for me! And I pilot it!"  
"Marissa, you can't even stand blood.how in hell are you going to-"  
But she was caught off. Marissa had reached up and slapped her. Hard.  
An ugly bruise formed where she had slapped her. Naomi growled as blood trickled down her chin and glared at Marissa. Marissa had some thoughts about maybe immediately apologizing to Naomi. But no. she had saved her life when she was DYING. She was practically dead, and she had saved her. The supposedly "dead" Naomi Alex Atsui was alive.  
Marissa was violently pushed on the metal floor of the desert base. Naomi seemed violently angry.  
"You think," she quivered with anger, "that one slap can stop me from talking, but you can't slap everything, Marissa. What will you do when our enemies rise up and try to kill you, huh? Will you jump out of the Red Gemini and slap them too?"  
  
*End Flashback*  
  
Marissa sighed as she stood on the outskirts of the burning. Quatre was going to die. That nice boy from camp. True, he was an enemy, but.if it was any other of the Gundam pilots, she would back off, but..  
Naomi, she thought, this has to stop.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
The light was hot and bright. Even before the blast hit him, it was burning him. The fabric of his shirt gave way by little bits as the flame slowly reached him..  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
"Master Quatre! Master Quatre!" He opened his eyes and groaned. The sky was black. There was no more fire. No more heat and scorching death blasts. Just a ruined city. And now two machines.  
"Rashid!" he shot up. The pain stabbed him and he screamed. Immediately, the faithful attendant was at his side to comfort him.  
"Shhh," Rashid whispered. "You are safe now."  
He was confused. "Didn't the.why.?"  
Rashid smiled, but then turned to the two machines that seemed to be fighting with each other. Quatre recognized one of them immediately as the one that supposedly tried to kill him.  
And it did, didn't it?  
"Let me explain, Master Quatre," Rashid spoke softly, yet not swaying his gaze from the two fighting Mobile Suits. Away from the fight were the Preventers resting, some bringing back bodies, and the rest of the Maganacs. Quatre's eye's widened when he saw Wufei, but he had looked so serious, Quatre thought he might bother him if he called his name.  
Wufei seemed to notice Quatre. He walked over to his injured former- Gundam Pilot.  
"How are you doing?"  
"Can you just tell me what happened?"  
They both let out a sigh. Rashid was the first to start. "Right before you could have been destroyed by that blast, another unknown Mobile Suit came out of nowhere and deflected the blast right back at the other one. "It seems they're both named Gemini, but go according to the main color."  
"The one that supposedly saved you was the Red Gemini. The one that destroyed San Francisco is called the Black Gemini."  
"And it seems that for the past four hours they've been battling non- stop."  
Wufei grimaced. "What's even more surprising is the name of the pilot the Red Gemini keeps calling to the Black Gemini."  
"Why?" Quatre looked up and asked.  
He sighed. "Because the owner of that name was reported dead three years ago." 


	8. Mission Failed

A Different Side  
  
By SariaSubi-kun  
  
SariaSubi: Man, updating Gundam Wing fics is so much fun these days! Whoo! Okay, I don't do this much, but I wanna give a shoutout to ViktoriaLockheart and Lessthanjakepunk710! You guys rock! Oh, BTW, Lessthanjakepunk710 has this really funny YuYuHakusho story called Hiei's Anger Management. Check it out!  
  
Now, I've stopped the interruptions, so this should be chapter 5, but it says 8, so...?  
  
Chapter 5? 8? Whatever! It's the next chapter!  
  
Munich was a mess, but she really didn't care. She growled as she walked down the streets of Nurnberg, slouching in an annoyed way. The weakling didn't do her job, she thought in her head. She was SUPPOSED to destroy Phuket in Thailand. "But," she muttered as she pushed people out of her way, "She had to go stop Naomi," she whined in her quiet imitation of Marissa. "Weakling. I don't get what's so important about Pilot 04 anyways."  
She was too caught up in her inner complaints. But her thoughts were shattered when one of the pedestrians she thoughtlessly pushed aside yelled, "Hey! Watch it!"  
"What do you want?" she turned in annoyance to the victim of her pushing. But her eyes went wide.  
He was alive?! Wasn't he in Munich? He was in Nurnberg the whole time! Shiori gave her the wrong instructions!  
"Just watch where you're going, man. You pushed a whole herd of people down." He turned and walked down the rest of the street before meeting up with a small, blue-haired girl whose color reminded her of Naomi's.  
She grit her teeth as she watched the braided boy and the German he was supposedly with, Hilde Schbeiker, was it? walked away. "Okay, Shiori, you're gettin' it big time."  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
"Naomi!" Marissa screamed from the Red Gemini, "You have to stop this! You've done enough damage!"  
Naomi growled as she fired another missile. "Out of my way, Natchios!" Blasts bombarded the opposite Gemini as it held up its arms to deflect the blasts as Marissa screamed, but they did no damage. Enraged at this, Naomi fired again, but Marissa was ready, and the Red Gemini put up one of its special abilities: a magnetic field strong enough to repel any blast.  
"Damn!"  
From the ground, Quatre, Wufei, and all the other survivors of the Maganacs and Preventers watched in awe as the new MSs fought a deadly battle, destroying all the other remains of San Francisco.  
"They'll destroy each other!" one Maganac called out.  
Wufei shook his head. "No, it doesn't look that way. That black one is just blowing off steam. Whatever the reason is, it's just trying to repel the red suit."  
"So then, could this go on for hours?" Quatre inquired.  
"Maybe," Rashid stood, "but that gives us enough time to temporarily recover."  
"I think we can go in and stop this now."  
Quatre and Rashid both looked at Wufei. "What do you mean?"  
"Seriously," he looked down at Quatre, "you're acting like you forgot we were Gundam pilots."  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
"Naomi!" she yelled through the blast, "look, you already failed the mission," Naomi stopped pushing the Gemini forward, "so why can't we get back home? Arielle already destroyed Munich, and London's in ruins. Let's just go home!"  
She.failed? She failed?! "Marissa," she pleaded frantically into the intercom, "how did I fail?"  
She heard the other girl sigh. "Well, this mission WAS meant for you to kill Quatre as well, wasn't it?"  
Naomi gasped. As much as she refused to believe it, she could see outside and tell it was true. But her anger soon grew. If Marissa hadn't stopped her, Quatre would have died in that blast.  
But there was this nagging of relief deep down in forgotten depths of kindness inside of her that he didn't.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
"Naomi," Marissa started, but then her voice switched to panic, "look behind you! Quatre and Wufei are-"  
But it was too late for Naomi to turn around and do anything. The two smaller Mobile Suits caught her off guard and knocked the Black Gemini off balance.  
She groaned as the MS skidded across the concrete. That wasn't the end of the barrage. Of course, the Gundam pilots in regular MSs were still Gundam pilots. Their skill was precise and well thought out, and Naomi couldn't get up.  
The Gemini suit was getting banged up on the inside. Marissa's outcries of concern were getting choppier and choppier with each direct hit. Naomi was starting to scratch herself on the mechanisms she constantly was thrust into. She could picture with her eyes two Gundams coming in for the kill. She winced as she was hit again.  
Marissa thought frantically of what to do. If Naomi were in her shoes, she would leap out of them and attack and destroy those two suits, but she just..she just COULDN'T! She grabbed her forehead and struggled with the thoughts racing around in her head. She had no idea what to do.  
"No," she gasped, "this isn't like a regular suit. The cockpit.it's in the BACK of the Gemini, not the front! She could be gravely injured in there! Or worse-"  
But Marissa's worries were made reality as the two MSs rammed into the machine one more time, ejecting Naomi from the Black Gemini.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
Quatre and Wufei stopped dead in their tracks as the girl rolled on the ground with blood emitting from her scratches. "So," Quatre said breathlessly, "she's just like us."  
"Or WAS like us. She's just a kid," was his response.  
"Hey, that was us two years ago. What do you think.?"  
"I think we should kill her," he sighed as he looked down at the controls. "She's caused enough damage here."  
"But do you think," he looked confused, "we should ask her her purpose?"  
Naomi stirred on the ground and looked up. She gasped as she looked around and realized that she was no longer in the safety of her black MS. The girl jumped up and faced the MSs in front of her. Damn, she thought, if I don't do something, the whole fucking game is blown through. If it's still here..She moved her hand up her white sleeve. After looking for the black strap on her arm that usually held her army knife and small metal bar that was as big as her foot, she pulled the bar out and pressed a button.  
"Well, I'm not inside the Gemini, but I can still control it from the outside." The Gemini started to mobilized and march towards her. Wufei and Quatre gave a start.  
"Quatre! The MS is moving, but no one's inside!"  
'Wufei, I think she's using that small baton she's holding to control it from the outside."  
"Well, then," he growled, "we'll have to crush her before the MS gets to her. Crap!" he cursed as Naomi jumped out of the way of the MS's foot.  
The dust whipped her navy hair in her face as she ran away from the two MSs approaching her. Sweat beat down her back and her chest, and she was breathing heavy. She winced as memories flowed back to her. It was just like that night..  
Running from the guards that had been chasing her. She thought she had done everything right. She had stolen the plans from Oz and, so now one could take them from her, put them down her shirt. She had been running out of breath. She remembered the thought.  
Just one breath, she had pleaded with herself, just for a moment.  
She grabbed her head and continued to run. Please, she screamed inside her head, not now!  
But the memory tortured her as if she was on its wire, pulling her purposely forgotten memories and put them back into the front of her mind. As she had left the hangar, the guards fired their shots. The bullets had ripped through her like she was a target for practice. The pain burned inside of her as she gasped. She managed to limp to the edge the woods; the strength she had to do it, she never found out where it came from. Her body started heaving uncontrollably, a river of dark blood pouring out of her mouth as she threw up. She let a few tears roll down her cheeks as she sobbed her best friend's name, thinking she might join him soon. She looked up with the last of her strength and saw the plain coming closer and closer to the ground.  
Death. She was about to pull the handle to its door, then. It hurt so much. She had started crying like she had when Julius had died. Would she ever get revenge for the killer?  
The plane had crashed, but she had already "died." A distant cry was the last thing she heard before she closed her eyes for what she, and the world, had thought was the last time.  
The next thing she knew, she woke up in a small med center run a small girl named Marissa Natchios. According to newspapers, Naomi Alex Atsui, the daughter of the famous Yossonan had died in a "forest fire." No, she had frowned darkly, I had died of torture.  
And the torture was coming back to her. She was running away from those who could kill her. She could just imagine the rip of bullets through her slim form.  
Naomi stopped still. "No," she gasped as tears ran down her cheeks and her hair fell into her face. Her feet hurt horribly, but for the past ten minutes, that had seemed numb. But she wasn't stopping because she thought she might die. This was a different reason.  
Defiance.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
Quatre and Wufei stopped their MSs immediately. What was this strange girl doing? She had stopped completely and was now facing them.  
Quatre looked closely at her. She stood upright and proud, if not limping just a little. She lifted her hand to brush a strand of hair out of her eyes. He could see her clearly now. Her blue hair bordered a face crossed with defiance, serious to the bitter end. But angry tears ran down her lightly scratched face. She faced them with a brave front and stared directly at Quatre as if she saw his eyes through the Leo.  
He gasped. Although the hair was blue, not brown, and the eyes were blue, not green, it still...  
"Gundam pilots" she spoke softly to the two MSs, "I failed here, but mark my words..this is not over."  
"What?!" Wufei leaned forward, trying to yell at her. If he could prevent anything, he had to destroy her now!  
She bowed her head then looked up again at the MSs. She lifted her arm in front of her, showing off a detonation switch. Looking quickly at the Black Gemini that was still approaching by her control, she turned her gaze back to Wufei and Quatre.  
"My name's Naomi," she said to them and only them. Somehow they heard her. How was she reaching them? "Remember that."  
"Quatre!" Wufei yelled into the intercom, "She has a detonation switch!"  
"Wufei! Look to your right!" As Wufei turned his head, and MS, Naomi was it the perfect time. She pushed the button, and BOOM! The right arm of the Black Gemini exploded. It sent Wufei's MS hurtling into debris lying on the ground. By the time he looked up, the Black Gemini and the Red Gemini were flying off.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
"Well, I'm not that physically injured. Still capable to fly this to the base," she pressed a control. "Black to system base. Gemini's right arm damaged, pilot, minor injuries, mission.." She took a deep breath and sighed.  
"Mission failed." 


	9. Our Plans to Take it Too Far and All the...

A Different Side  
  
By SariaSubi-kun  
  
SariaSubi: Updates! I'm just bursting with plot here! But besides that, I would really like some reviews around now. My Gundam Wing stories are looking really good, but I need your input. Criticism, compliments, feedback, really any comment you have on the story would be great. Even a suggestion for something later in the plot would be great! Well, aside from all that, I want to thank those that have been reading this so far. It makes me want to keep on writing. Sorry if some things seem a bit enigmatic, but everything should clear up within the next few chapters.  
  
Chapter (Is it Six now, or Nine? Whatever..Let's stick with..can I get a comment on that?)  
  
Sato slammed her fist on the table at the base. "You failed?!"  
She was furious. "I don't exactly see a Gundam pilot's head on our table from your side, either, Sato!"  
"You were a hell of a lot closer to killing him than I was my target. What the hell stopped you?"  
Naomi grimaced. Although all the Gemini pilots practically hated each other, they shared one base deep in the middle of the desert. They were all seated around the metal table in the kitchen. Arielle put a strand of dirty- blonde hair behind her ear and tilted her sunglasses down a bit to see the look on both their faces. Marissa sat up straight and quiet, hanging her head low.  
"It was the weakling's fault." Arielle laughed bitterly and Marissa winced as Sato quickly directed her anger at her.  
"So that's why Phuket's dirt isn't on your shoes. You didn't even go near it, did you?"  
"I refuse to be called a weakling by all of you!" she stood up and looked at Sato and Naomi dead in the eye. Arielle, laid back in her chair, raised her eyebrows in amusement. "I'm sick of this! I'm a Gemini pilot as well. I'm strong as you all are when it comes to piloting, so I would shut my trap if I were you!" She directed her anger at Sato. "You mocked me at camp when no one was looking, and you mock me now. I don't get your bitchy attitude!"  
She had hit a nerve. "Bitchy attitude? If you're as good as us, why haven't you killed anyone yet?"  
"Oh, wait, I forgot, she killed someone. That spider she saw in the shower the other day," Naomi spat with sarcasm. Arielle thought it funny and started laughing.  
"And I don't get you!" she turned on Arielle, who brought the small girl to her attention. "You always either make fun of me, or busy yourself muttering a curse on the world."  
"Listen, ya wanna be like me for a day, you'll gladly see why," she retorted, and laid back in the chair.  
"I don't care about any of that," Sato snorted. "You, or Naomi." Naomi cocked her brow a bit.  
"Oh?"  
"You heard me, Atsui. Just because you brought the wonderful Gemini plans to us doesn't make you special, or the leader."  
Naomi put her hand on her hip. "And since when do you start acting like Shiori? I'm not a kid, Miratekaki, I pretty well understand, and no, I don't want to be," she spat, "'special.' I just want the Gundam pilots dead, overthrow our enemies, and then head on home."  
"Head on home?" Arielle mused, "Naomi, just in case you haven't noticed, the whole friggin world thinks you're dead."  
"Well, it's not like if you came, home, you'd have a welcome home party, either. The whole world thinks you're dead too, Arielle."  
"Yeah, but I ain't no daughter of some fancy shmuck." She quickly regretted saying that. As soon as she finished, Naomi put a gun to her head.  
"Say that about my father, AT ALL, and I swear, I will kill you."  
She shrugged and smirked. "Can't. I'm already dead."  
Naomi put the gun down and walked out of the room. "I'm checking my missions. Anyone feel like bothering me, wear a bulletproof vest."  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
"Roger that, Lady Phoenix. Mission accepted. Operation Relena will commence over the course of three days." Marissa leaned back in her chair and frowned. If living with the others wasn't bad enough for her, she had to do the same mission with the others. She did not like this. She didn't like it one bit.  
It was even more confusing with who got their missions from whom. Naomi and Marissa both got their Missions from an old woman named Lady Phoenix. Marissa had actually spent a few years with the old squaw after she also had supposedly "died." All the Gemini pilots had been reported dead about three to five years ago. That's what made it so easy to be a Gemini pilot. If anyone had ever found out their identity, it would be "false" because that identity would be a dead one.  
Naomi's death had been the most famous one, but that was because of her father's fame. Sato had supposedly "died" taking a bullet for her uncle, who owned a bar out in Utah. A murderer had come to kill the old uncle and his cousin, though he mistook his cousin for his brother. Sato's uncle's cousin was a scientist who genetically altered humans. Sato had supposedly been one of his test objects. It was a quality that made her one of the best pilots besides Naomi. She had escaped from the lab and took refuge at her uncle's bar. When her uncle's cousin came to the bar to look for her, the murderer found it the perfect time to kill them. He managed to kill the cousin, but since Sato had loved her uncle so much, she jumped in front of the bullet for him. She had been reported dead, but as the mortuary was packaging her up to be buried, she managed to escape the morgue and get herself healed. The body had been reported stolen after that, and Sato Miratekaki had disappeared from existence, dead or alive.  
Arielle died a different way. She was a junkman, or woman for that matter, and grew up on the same colony as Duo did. She had even met him once or twice, but that was before he became a Gundam pilot. After her business went out, she decided to do secret investigations. Doing a mission one night with her computer giga-byte, Chiriko, her suspect had caught her and put her in prison, lying to the authorities, saying she was eighteen. With what she was charged with, she was grounded to Earth and served in a correctional facility near a cliff that overlooked the ocean. By the cliff, there had been a telephone pole that received communications from across the ocean. One of her community services to help her get out of prison faster was to maintain that tower. When Arielle had left L2, Chiriko's program had been confiscated by the suspect Arielle had been tracking that night. In order to make sure the private investigation department that Arielle had been working for would never get any information from her about him when she was released, he reprogrammed Chiriko and sent him into the phone lines, set to electrocute when Arielle touched the wire. Since she could no longer track Chiriko, the shock was quite unexpected. After she was electrocuted, she fell off the tower and straight into the ocean. She was never seen again to the public. She had cut her hair shorter by herself and streaked it, just to make sure no one recognized her.  
Marissa disappeared from the world quite unnoticed, however, she was still recorded dead. Medical studies had always amazed her. Ever since she was young, she grew up with an old woman called by many titles, but they had always ended with Phoenix. Mother Phoenix, Lady Phoenix, Madame Phoenix. She used to work for peace, but ever since she got old, she became very friendly with Marissa's family. When Marissa was disowned because she betrayed the tribe that her family belonged to, Lady Phoenix took care of her and let her interests grow. When Marissa was invited to go to a laboratory on the L3 colony, Sector B, 005329, she gladly agreed. But, being a bit young and clumsy, she got lost easily. She wandered until she ended up in the wrong side of the lab. The explosives lab was under heavy watching because it had been acting out of order. Fate had picked the wrong time for the explosives to go completely haywire. The lab exploded violently, with Marissa in the middle of the chemical fireball. All they found was a burnt corpse. But Lady Phoenix did not give up easily.  
Marissa had brought Naomi to Lady Phoenix after she found Naomi almost dead in the woods. It turned out that Lady Phoenix had a more brash sister who was the same age as her named Lady Osiris. Lady Osiris had a much rougher temper and gave orders to Sato and Arielle, who were just as intimidating. The sisters at times agreed, but with the girls, it was hopeless.  
She sighed. "It's almost impossible for us to live under the same roof for one day!" Marissa held her forehead in her hands and tried to decide who to tell first about Operation Relena. Heero Yuy was going to be the hardest Gundam pilot to defeat; Gundam or not. They knew that all to well. Operation Relena was meant to draw him out, vulnerable, and destroy him.  
"Guys! Dinner!" Naomi hollered through the desert base. Naomi was like that sometimes; she'd be mean and rough at one time and willing to please anyone at another. There was one thing that all the girls actually agreed on: Naomi was the cook of the Gemini pilots.  
As the others slowly made their way into the kitchen, Marissa glanced at all of them. It was apparent they had all received the notice about the possible demise of Heero Yuy.  
"Well," Arielle slumped in her chair after everyone had finished and Naomi was cleaning the dishes, "I think it's pretty clear we all have the same mission." She looked at Sato and Marissa, who nodded, and Naomi hummed a "yeah" from the sink, so she continued, "I think we should go three ways about this."  
"What do you mean?" Sato asked.  
"Well, one of us who looks the most innocent, namely Marissa, should go in and be a student on the campus of which Relena is heading the pacifism place thingy." She drifted off trying to find the name, but soon gave up. "Aaanyways, Marissa goes in as Anshi Shuukaku, a girl who comes from a pacifist family and who admires Miss Relena. She gains a good eye from Miss Relena. Meanwhile, Naomi, you put your hair up under a cap and look like a delivery boy."  
"Right."  
"And you come in," she looked at a map that Sato had laid out of the campus, "let's see. We'll have you come in the West entrance. That way, you can clear at the desk that you have a very important delivery you must speak to Miss Relena about. And you have that thing that makes you convincing, so you should do okay. As your heading past the desk, which should be exactly a kilometer and a half from Relena's office. Marissa, make sure when Naomi pages you when she gets past the front desk that you are exactly three-fourths away from Relena's office from where you are. Head to her office and ask if you may speak to her. By the time you start off some sweet talk, Naomi should be knocking on the door. Let her in. Naomi, you tell Miss Relena that you have some very important deliveries that you must clear with her and that she must sign something. Marissa excuses herself, but doesn't really leave the room. She goes to the door and locks it. Naomi, you keep her busy about a half-minute longer with the false notices which I'll type up. She gets suspicious and you put the package down, which really holds a gun. Marissa you need a gun too, so I made this." She handed her a textbook.  
'What's this?"  
"Open it up. Inside should be a large cut through the pages that should fit a gun." Marissa nodded, and when Naomi did as well, Arielle continued, "Who in Hell knows what Relena will do, so just corner her. If anyone comes to the door, leave it."  
"So then what do we do, what's this third part?" Sato seemed annoyed.  
"Well, we come in right now. You and I will take the helicopter with the Hyper-Jammer, which is like the model based on the Gundam Deathscythe, making it undetectable. Marissa, as soon as Naomi has Relena cornered, you page us. We'll have the chopper on the roof, but covered, of course. We'll descend from the roof. By that time, you'll have convinced her to become our hostage. Sato and I will have masks on of course, and when you two take Relena to the chopper hovering outside her office, you put on your masks as well."  
"But why do we have them off when we first enter, THEN put them on?"  
"Because, idiot, the way the Gundam pilots will be alerted is because they see a helicopter taking Relena away. When they report the helicopter, they can't see our faces. Marissa, you should have a change of clothes on under the uniform so you can take it off as soon as you and Naomi get on. If they see a student on, they'll immediately try to find the last student who went into her office." She took a breath and looked around. "How many days did you guys say this would be commenced within?"  
Marissa was first. "Three days."  
"Three."  
"Two."  
"By tomorrow." Everyone looked up at Naomi, who had her arms crossed over her chest.  
"Tomorrow? We can't..okay, we CAN, but now we have to get everything ready. Atsui, you're the mechanic, get the copter ready then." Naomi nodded and put the last of the dishes away as she headed towards the desert base's hangar. "Marissa, you prepare the Gemini suits for standby."  
"Why? How long are you guessing that we will hold Relena?" she cocked an eyebrow.  
"Well, who knows. The Gundam pilots may get notice of it immediately. Of course, they won't know where we are, so we'll have plenty of time to get back here safely and on time. I say we should get back here by four o' clock."  
Sato stood up and hollered down the hall, "YOU HEAR THAT, ASTUI?"  
"Yeah," came an echo through the halls as she picked up another wrench and bolted the Hyper-Jammer into the chopper.  
Arielle sweatdropped, but continued. "I also think we should have a radar ready as well," she smirked and said slyly, "just in case we need to put out any threats."  
"YOU HEAR THAT, ATSUI? GET A RADAR READY!"  
"Alright already!" Marissa and Arielle heard the clunk of metal against flesh.  
"Well you don't have to hit me with a fucking wrench," Sato rubbed her head.  
"Eheheheh, this is getting out of hand..I think Naomi can hear us from here, Sato."  
"Well, ya think I'm supposed to know that while she's nailing away our getaway?"  
"Either way," Arielle put her hands on the table and stood herself up, "my plan is as strong as Gundanium."  
"YOUR plan?"  
"Okay, OUR plan. Come on, guys, we need all the rest we got. Our life forces have to be at 100% or higher tomorrow. We also need to rise early."  
"Wait," Marissa stopped them from leaving, "if I'm going to be a student.I should be there a bit earlier than you guys, right?"  
"I think you, me, and Sato should leave at maybe.." She looked out the window at the blowing sand as if asking for it's opinion, "Around four thirty in the AM."  
"Then I'm heading off to the sack," Sato growled as she headed to her room. She frowned as she saw Naomi leaning against the doorpost, blocking her way. "Out of the way, Atsui."  
She ignored her and hung her head low, saying nothing. Her eyes were distant.  
"Out of the way, Atsui!"  
"That pilot.." she drifted off, her arms hugging themselves around her body. "Quatre..Rebarba....Winner."  
"Yeah? What about him?"  
Naomi looked up, a spark in her eyes. "He lives in the desert. His Maganac soldiers are built for the desert. Don't you think that they maybe, just maybe, might notice us as we're escaping with Relena."  
Arielle shrugged. "I think we should put it this way: Sato takes the chopper to the campus with Marissa. I take a jet and put it in the woods, halfway home. That way, we ditch the chopper and hop on the jet, which will be faster and less undetectable. Of course, Naomi-"  
"Right. I'll put a Hyper-Jammer console on the jet as well. Which one, though?"  
"The brown one. The one that looks like sand."  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
The stars formed a quiet blanket across the sand as the desert slept. Through Gundam pilots' minds everywhere was the thought of the new MS attacks.  
As they all drifted off to sleep, they never gave a thought that in the oncoming day, those new Mobile Suits would take it too far. 


	10. Operation Relena

A Different Side  
  
By SariaSubi-kun  
  
Zzy: Hiya! I'm here for SariaSubi because she's at a boat festival in Flushing! So what if it's Chinese? Chinese, Japanese? Well.Wufei is Chinese, so it must be cool. Right, Nataku?  
  
::pushes button::  
  
Nataku: ::holds up sign:: "Right Zzy!"  
  
Zzy: ^_^  
  
GG: *gasp* You stole Nataku! Wufei will be mad when he comes back from the boat festival with SariaSubi!  
  
Zzy: SHE WENT WITH HIM?!  
  
Nataku: ::holds up another sign:: "SariaSubi does not own Gundam Wing"  
  
::Zzy rants on about not having a date with a Gundam Pilot::  
  
GG: And I hear Viktoria took Trowa!  
  
Zzy: ViktoriaLockheart?!  
  
Nataku: ::holds up another sign:: "Save me, Wufei!"  
  
Chapter..We'll just call it chapter ten. Make me feel better  
  
Naomi smiled at her work as she drove the Jeep up to the campus. The night before, she had wired a completely new intercom line that could be used only by the Gemini pilots. It had taken what seemed like forever to make a completely new radio line that was closed off but four lines. Four Gemini pilots.  
Her disguise was, like Arielle had said, perfect. She had changed her contacts to green again. The blue hair, blue eyes was a bit common; if the person reported going into Miss Relena's office was a boy with dark hair and green eyes, Naomi with blue hair and blue eyes wouldn't be found anywhere near there.  
As she parked the stolen Oz, or rather Noz, Jeep in the parking lot, she stood in it and surveyed the campus. There were very few boys there, but she spotted "Anshi" quickly. She was chatting with some other girls. And standing in the corner....  
Naomi gasped, but instead of being noticed, she dropped down into her Jeep and started up the intercom.  
"Blue, this is Black."  
"Blue to Black. Operation R to commence in t-minus three minutes."  
"Black to Blue, we have a problem."  
Arielle's voice hinted with urgency. "Nao-Black, what is it?"  
Naomi quickly looked up and then hunched back down again. "Black has spotted GP 01, 02, and 04."  
Arielle stuttered. The line was silent for a long time. Naomi could hear Sato's voice in the back.  
"Blue to Black, not to worry. Just..." Arielle sighed. "Just stay out of their line of vision, Naomi."  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
Marissa hummed as she walked down the carpeted halls of the campus. She tugged at her long skirt, but she decided that there wasn't much of a bad thing; when this mission would be complete, in the end, there would be no more fighting and she could finally live her own life the way she wanted it.  
Her wristwatch started flashing. It was time. Naomi was at the front desk.  
"Sorry, Miss Relena, but I have a feeling you're really not going to like this." She headed towards her position and waited for Naomi's signal when her eyes went wide.  
Coming down the hall was three of the Gundam pilots.  
Trying to find a place to hide, she found none. It was just her, the Gundam pilots at the end of the hallway, and the hallway with no doors. Sighing, she put her head down and pretended to read a book she was carrying as she whizzed past them.  
Quatre looked up as s student past him. His eyes followed her until she turned the corner and went down another corridor. He stopped for a moment and shook his head, trying to recollect his memories.  
"Quatre?" Duo asked with a hint of concern.  
Quatre shook his head again and smiled reassuringly at Duo and Heero. "It's nothing. Sorry to worry you."  
But in the back of his head, a little figure kept on nudging at him telling him that that had been Anshi Shuukaku, Alex's friend. The one who had also driven a huge moving truck before Alex moved.  
And, he thought, she might know if Alex survived that fire. IF that was Anshi of course.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
Naomi made sure her cap was hiding any femininity that she had and put the package that had the gun and an emergency grenade under her arm as she sighed and walked into the west entrance. Upon seeing her enter, the woman at the front desk looked up and smiled brightly.  
'Welcome. How may I help you?"  
"Uh," she tried her best boy's voice, which wasn't that all too bad, "I have a package for Miss Relena."  
"Well, just leave it right here and I'll be sure to give it to her."  
"I don't think you understand, ma'am. She has to personally sign the forms, and besides," she took out a blank piece of paper, looked innocent, and pretended to read, "I have instructions that I must personally deliver this to her. Can you please direct me to her office, ma'am?"  
The receptionist smiled sweetly at the young "boy" and stood up, pointing down the hall. "Take that corridor until you can either go straight or turn right. Keep on going until you can go left. The hall turns right, and then you keep going until you see the office with the sign that says 'Administrator.'" Naomi nodded a thanks and glided by the desk. Now that the woman was looking in the other direction, she slipped into the right hall instead of continuing forwards. She held her watch close to her mouth and pressed a button.  
Marissa's watch beeped again, and she heard a muffled sound of, "Start going." She nodded to no one and started walking towards Miss Relena's office.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
-~- "Okay, Heero, everyone. Thank you for informing me about these new Mobile Suits."  
"Miss Relena," Quatre started, "we're here for the time being because we feel you may be in danger as well. These suits destroyed innocents and caused chaos; we think they may be taking a good shot at disturbing the peace."  
"And what good target to hit is Relena Peacecraft, the world's best known pacifist." Duo put his arms over his head and yawned lazily.-~-  
  
I appreciate their concern, but I can well take care of myself, she thought. Would a trained pilot of a new MS really attack a campus that has three of the five Gundam pilots on it? Of course it would take the advantage; the Gundam pilots had nothing to fight back with.  
So the campus was very much vulnerable to an attack from these new Mobile Suits. She sighed and shook her head. This wasn't good. Definitely NOT good.  
There was a knock on her door. "Um, come in," she looked up from her desk at the opening wood door. Inside stepped a small girl with short, straight black hair with brown highlights. Relena recognized her. The girl had transferred to the campus that morning. She seemed like a shy girl, and Relena smiled. Maybe she just wanted to talk.  
"Oh, Anshi, what a pleasant surprise. Please," she stood up, "come in." The girl stepped fully inside and looked down at her shoes, her fingers tied in front of her.  
"Um..Miss Relena.."  
"Please, just Relena, Anshi," she smiled, "what is it? Is something wrong?"  
There was another knock on the door. The door opened a crack and a head of a young boy about Anshi's age popped inside. The top of his head was covered by a cap that said "Post Boy" on the front. He looked down at his paper and said, "Miss Relena, I have something important to give you."  
"Oh..I see. Is it....confidential?" she asked cautiously.  
He nodded his head. "Yes. Very."  
Anshi smiled politely and put her hands together. "I don't want to be a disturbance. Miss Relena, I'll just wait outside."  
"Yes, thank you very much, Anshi," she smiled graciously, "then we can talk once I have this matter settled." Anshi slowly crept to the door as Relena forgot about her supposed "exit" and turned her attention to the delivery boy.  
A gentle hum from above slowly descended.  
Not noticing it, Relena asked the boy, "Is it in that package?"  
He nodded. "Yes..um, let me show you."  
Anshi quietly slipped her jacket off and locked the door. Naomi was so close to Relena, the girl would have to brutally crane her neck to see her now.  
The delivery boy opened the box he was carrying, and Relena let out a gasp. Her hands flying to her face, she backed away to the window.  
Her sick grin showing, Naomi threw off her hat to reveal her beautiful, shoulder length hair. "Anshi," or Marissa for this matter, had slipped off her uniform and was now clad in black, smiling as well.  
"Anshi, you're a part of this?" Relena breathed, backing to the large window as Naomi held the gun up.  
"Oh, I wish you would stop calling me that, Miss Relena. My name is Marissa. And we're only half of your nightmare."  
"Half? I...I don't understand."  
Naomi grasped the gun more firmly. "Just stay quiet, princess, and you'll be fine."  
Relena recoiled with anger. Her position, she saw, was never something to be mocked with. She tried her best every day to keep the world at peace. Yes, she was considered Queen at one time, but no one ever made fun about her position. Her life was always in danger to help another life live through the day. How dare a rebel terrorist make fun of her position! "What are you?" she demanded of the duo, "some group of terrorists?"  
"Terrorists?" Naomi cocked her eyebrow, seemingly with amusement, "My, my, princess, so quick to judge us? That isn't very polite."  
"Naomi," Marissa spoke from her position at the door, locking it tightly, "don't try to be like Arielle. Are they here yet?"  
She looked back at Marissa for a second, but just in case Relena might do something funny, she whipped her head back to her hostage. "I heard the hum of the helicopter. And it's parked on the freakin' roof, for crying out loud." The whipping of the helicopter's propeller started to blow leaves outside everywhere, and trees were starting lean in the opposite direction. "Ah, here they are."  
"What are you planning to do with me?" Relena asked defiantly.  
Naomi and Marissa focused their eyes directly at their captive, and Naomi spoke. "This, personally, isn't really about you, princess."  
"Then...who IS it about?"  
Marissa sighed. "The Gundam pilots."  
"What do you want with the Gundam pilots? They're useless now! They don't have their Gundams anymore! Please! Don't harm them!" she protested, but Naomi just put her gun under the girl's chin and leaned in and whispered to her.  
"We'll tell you all that later, princess," she moved in dangerously closer, causing Relena to shiver, "just come with us, and none of the Gundam pilots here will be hurt." Anshi raised her eyebrows. She didn't know that Naomi had seen the three pilots on the campus.  
Yet another knock came to the door. This time, it was an uninvited guest.  
"Relena?"  
"Heer-" but Naomi tried to cover her mouth as quickly as she could. Still, Heero and the others outside heard the muffled cry and pounded on the door.  
"Relena! Let us in!"  
Marissa smirked and leaned close to the door. "Her Highness cannot come to the door. The only thing I can give you at this moment is your deaths. But then, how will you be able to save her?"  
Outside, Heero's eyes widened, and he only became more enraged. Together, both him and Duo rammed against the door, but still couldn't open it. Quatre joined in as well, but they just couldn't open the door.  
Arielle and Sato, in their masks, jumped through the window and held their machine guns up as well. "Who's at the door?" Sato inquired.  
"The pilots," Marissa hissed from the door.  
"It would be so much easier," Naomi slapped her forehead, "if we killed them now. Three in one!"  
"Yeah," Arielle stepped forward, "let's give them a surprise!"  
"No, wait," Naomi held her arm up, "I....I gave my word to Relena I wouldn't kill them here."  
"Naomi!"  
"It's amazing. You can pretend you're a completely different person, yet not tell a lie," Sato spat.  
Naomi whirled around and shot at Sato's shoulder, lightly grazing the black fabric. "Shut up and get her on the plane!"  
"Which I have here!" Arielle piped up.  
As Marissa was putting on her black mask, she asked, "Both the jet and the chopper?"  
"The chopper's a decoy, kid."  
"Don't call me kid!"  
As Naomi pushed Relena towards the window, she whispered again, "Just stick with us for a bit, and everything will be fine." After that, she lost all compassion and turned and threw a small metal card into the office and shot the lock. The door burst open, Heero, Duo, and Quatre falling inside as Naomi put her mask on.  
The three looked up and could do nothing as they saw one last pained look from Relena before she disappeared into the sand-colored airplane. One tall and slim, masked figure stuck their body out and looked down on the pilots with a look that made them feel like small ants. The intense blue eyes looked down on them with scorn as if they were pathetic. A slim hand emerged from the inside and pushed a button that was seated in their hand. As Heero screamed his fury after the jet, the room exploded in smoke around the three pilots. They shaded their eyes as the black billows flew at them. By the time Quatre saw a small clearing, there was nothing there except a shattered window.  
Relena had been kidnapped and taken hostage.  
And Heero, as he looked down at the floor as he kneeled, couldn't do anything. All those promises he had made to protect her, his almost confession of love to her.  
And they just took her.  
No, he couldn't let them.  
He would never let them.  
Yet he did. And he wanted to shoot himself, come back to life, and shoot himself again for that.  
I will kill them for taking her, he thought as he clenched his hands tightly.  
"Heero," he felt a hand on his shoulders, "we should go after her."  
All he did was nod as he stood up, leaving small red spots on the carpet from where he sat. 


	11. The Battle May Start, But It May Be Futi...

A Different Side  
  
By SariaSubi-kun  
  
SariaSubi: Hello, minna-san! The boat festival was so cool! I saw people wiz around whips acting like they could really defend themselves, ate really good corn, and actually enjoyed a spring roll. Usually those things are crap!  
  
ViktoriaLockheart: Of course, you had fun watching Wufei jump up on that Kung Fu stage and watch him whoop their asses....Trowa just stood there.   
  
SariaSubi: Not my fault you have a boring boyfriend.  
  
Viktoria: Well......Wufei sounds strange in Japanese!  
  
SariaSubi: Well, I have more stories than you, and put all my reviews together, I have more reviews!  
  
Viktoria: Yeah, well, you can't get more than three reviews on one story, which is PA-THE-TIC!  
  
SariaSubi: SHUT UP!  
  
Navi: .....I'm just gonna leave  
  
Viktoria and SariaSubi: You shouldn't have been in here in the first place!  
  
GG: Someone's last name is McKinnickinnick!  
  
Zzy: So true....it's true! Du-o, Du-o ::prances around::  
  
Viktoria: Hey....are those-  
  
SariaSubi: The pilots!  
  
GG and Zzy: *gulp*  
  
To be continued in the next intro  
  
Chapter 11   
  
//::// Some people seem to think they always know what's best for you  
  
Their little minds try to create a world to keep you still  
  
The bolt is thrown, the cage is locked  
  
You saw this, don't you lie  
  
At first you cry and then you hate those people stole your will...//:://  
  
Naomi held the rope that bound Relena's wrists in her slim hand. She had taken her mask off, letting Relena take a good look at her main captor. After she took Relena into the desert plane, she had no more of a mocking smile. A thousand emotions were running through her right now. Mostly memories. It was all she had when there was no one to kill or nothing to argue with Sato over. Sato had been very quiet the whole way over as well. Naomi wondered what could be going through the brunette's mind. Not daring to wander any further, she shook the thoughts back to her own solitude.  
  
Some part of her was telling her mind that this wasn't right. Relena was a keeper of the peace. And through all that the Gemini pilots were doing, wasn't that what they were trying to do?   
  
No, she tried to make herself hate Relena. She thinks she knows what's best for me. No weapons, ha! Mankind can't live without his gun and armor. As long as mankind lives, there will always be dispute. As long as there is dispute, there will be war.  
  
"You think you can really change the world by simply taking away weapons?" she finally spoke up, obviously addressing the captive. Everyone looked Naomi's way with interest, wondering what kind of argument she was trying to stir up.  
  
Relena sighed. "The weapons are symbols of war. They are used to kill people and as long as people who start battles have them in possession, more and more people will be killed."  
  
"Weapons don't kill people. People kill people."  
  
"Weapons encourage them. When that new Mobile Suit attacked San Francisco, do you think that person could kill all those innocents with their bare hands?"  
  
Naomi grunted. "It was the cause behind it, that I...." she murmured, but then stopped herself. She turned her attention back to the captive sitting across from her as Relena continued.  
  
"Why have all these weapons if we want to achieve peace?"  
  
"They could just make new ones."  
  
"Do you want war?"  
  
"War? You may have experienced war, princess, but do you know the breakdown of it? Dispute. As long as mankind lives, they will always dispute. War is taking that dispute to the extreme. Some people hate each other. That's why they take lives; weapons or with their bare hands or the wrath of a blade. It doesn't matter, they kill each other in the end. You can't really stop war, whether I personally want it or not."  
  
"Well, someone has to do something. At least if we take away weapons, less people will die and maybe they will see that it is meaningless to fight such wars."  
  
Arielle laughed bitterly. "Fight such wars, huh? You know, princess," she spat the word, "thousands of years ago, there wasn't any guns. There were no Mobile Suits, no beam cannons. Just a sword and bare hands. But the same wars were fought. The same amount of people died. If this were the age of the samurai, what would you do? Say, 'Let's put all our swords away'?"  
  
"If it would help stop war."  
  
"Back then, a sword was a man's honor. A weapon may still be a man's honor today."  
  
"Or," Sato interrupted, "a woman's."  
  
Relena looked at each of the girls. "You're all warriors," she observed. They all nodded, their eyes on her. She looked back down at her hands. "May I ask your names?"  
  
"No," Sato immediately responded.  
  
Naomi sighed. "The death of a soldier never means they're really dead, because their soul still lives on the battlefield. The same with their sense of being a soldier. It can't die. Take away their gun or their Leo, they're still a soldier at heart. It's more like hurting their pride or identity, to be poetic."  
  
"But not all soldiers have that sense of battle. Some are ruthless killers," Relena protested. "What about them?"  
  
"Some believe they're doing good. Like the holy wars that have taken place over history. They believe that their religion is telling them this is right. What do you say to those who believe war is right?"  
  
Immediately, Relena was reminded of Dorothy, but she couldn't come up with such an emotional answer. She just said, "I'd say they're wrong."  
  
"I think," Marissa spoke up, she elbow resting on her knee as she sprawled the other leg out, "that we all have different beliefs, our own justices. But in the end, is your whole life put into your ban against weapons?"  
  
Relena couldn't answer. Well, I mean, of course it was! But these four girls (well, was that delivery boy still a boy? Hard to tell now....) seemed to think that the battlefield was where they belonged. She still didn't know, nor obviously understood, their purpose, but she let the subject drop. The plane was racing over the desert now.  
  
"The desert?" she asked as she looked out of the window. She soon found a blade under her chin.  
  
"Yeah, that's right," Naomi whispered dangerously into her ear, her hot breath causing shivers all over Relena's body as the blade toyed with its position on her neck, "and it's just between us five where it is, ya got that?"  
  
Relena gulp and tried to nod without the huge lump in her throat hitting the knife, but Naomi soon released it. If anything, it was the intimacy that scared her. This girl seemed to have no problem with scaring her that way.  
  
Arielle leaned over to Sato at the controls. "Are we anywhere's near the Maganac core yet?" she spoke in a low voice.  
  
Sato pressed another button and the plane sped up. "We should be flying over it now." Marissa went to the door and opened it, a huge gust of air coming in. Relena tried to shield herself with her bound arms, but the other's didn't seem to mind. Marissa put her hand over her eyes to avoid sand and squinted towards the ground as she hung out from the plane.  
  
"Yeah," she yelled over the loud noise, "I see the base. They don't seem on arm."  
  
"That means that they might send a transmission," Arielle said.  
  
"Why is that?" Marissa shut the door.  
  
"Because then," Sato turned around, "that would mean they would ask us to identify ourselves for clear passage. It's a law now."  
  
"So what do we do?"  
  
Naomi shook her head. "The Hyper-Jammer won't do anything. Maybe..." She looked up at Arielle for reassurance, and Arielle nodded.  
  
"Yeah, it's attached."  
  
Marissa caught on and at once protested. "You can't attack them now! They'll see and follow us for sure!"  
  
"Maybe not see...." Naomi looked at the floor, then at Arielle. Arielle gave her a questioning look. She looked back down at the floor and shook her head.  
  
"Naomi, I sure as hell hope that the Gemini aren't on this plane. Arielle?" Marissa looked anxiously between the two, but Naomi and Arielle literally fell over.  
  
"What?! You think that we're stupid enough to put the Gemini on a small jet?! Are you insane, Natchios?"  
  
"Damn," Naomi shook her head in disgust, "that was THE most stupidest thing I have heard you say yet, Marissa."  
  
Relena knew she wasn't on a plane full of terrorists anymore. If anything, right now they were acting like just a bunch of quarrelling teenagers. Her thoughts were interrupted, however, when there was a faint crackling of static at the controls.  
  
"This is...Maganac corps....please identify your craft and destination."  
  
Sato put the accelerator on as the plane went further and further out of transmission. "We're headed for home in a small jet, Maganac. Have a problem with that?"  
  
"Hey--!" but the static cut the Maganac soldier, Abdul, off. Sato snickered as she shut the switch off.  
  
"Well, an unidentified flight can't be tracked, now can it?"  
  
Arielle grinned. "Now, I told you that stealing the Hyper-Jammer idea from the Gundam Deathscythe was a brilliant idea."   
  
Relena's eyes widened. "Gundam?"  
  
Naomi laughed a bit. "Yeah. We stole a whole bunch of ideas from the previous Gundams' makeup. The Hyper-Jammer, used on Gundam 02, the Gundam Deathscythe, makes any craft it is attached to undetectable. But I'm sure you knew that; I mean, you personally know the pilot, which," she looked up at Arielle, "you forgot to kill in Munich."  
  
She turned around. "I did not forget! Munich is in ruins, it's just...it turns out he was in Nurnberg."  
  
"Nurnberg? With the Schbeiker girl, right?"  
  
"I'm serious. Shiori gave us all the wrong directions."  
  
"She gave you the wrong directions. Not me," Sato told her from the cockpit.  
  
"In case you haven't noticed, genius, PILOT 03 IS STILL FRIGGN ALIVE!" Arielle yelled. "The only one who could have possibly killed their target was, I hate to say it, Naomi."  
  
"Oh? You hate to say it? At least I got the right city. And if it wasn't for a minor interruption, I would have actually completed my mission, and that interruption wasn't even my fault."  
  
"Okay, okay, fine. I still feel like chewing Shiori out."  
  
"Shiori?" Relena asked. "There's more of you?"  
  
"Shiori's our boss, princess," Sato told her from the cockpit.   
  
"So what organization go you people belong to?" All four of them stiffened. They weren't supposed to even share this much information with their captive. So Marissa did the responsible thing.  
  
She forced an amnesiac drug down her throat and rendered her unconscious.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
Quatre rushed into the Maganac base and called Rashid's name numerous times. Duo and Heero were with him as well. After his persistent calling, Quatre's loyal Maganac soldiers surrounded the three former-Gundam pilots.   
  
"What's wrong, Master Quatre? I thought you were on that peace facility campus."  
  
"I was, Auda," he told the Maganac, "but then someone kidnapped Miss Relena and bombed her office!" The soldiers all murmured their surprise. Heero was just getting angrier by the second. If he didn't find Relena.....  
  
"We think that they came this way," Duo explained. "We also wanted to know if you saw a jet come this way."  
  
"Was it sand-colored?" Abdul gasped. The three boys nodded. Abdul winced. "A jet like that just came by here. I asked for it's identification for clearance, but it just sped up and flew off. It went," he searched the skies and pointed to the tail of clouds in the sky, "that way."  
  
"Thank you so much, you guys," Quatre thanked them, "can we borrow three Mobile Suits?"  
  
Rashid smiled. "Of course Master Quatre. I assume we shouldn't follow you?" he switched to a more sarcastic tone.  
  
Quatre lowered his head. "I'm sorry. Last time..."  
  
"It's alright," Rashid assured the boy, "you have other pilots with you now."  
  
Quatre nodded. "Right. Thank you, Rashid." And the three boys ran off as fast as they could to jump into those MSs.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
"How are we doing?" Marissa asked as she walked into the den after locking Relena in her cell, wiping the grime from the dirty cage off her hands with a rag. She wiped her arm across her tanned forehead. It was hot.  
  
Sato stood up and turned on the air conditioning. "The Gemini ARE on standby, right?" she asked in a low voice.  
  
"Y-yes..."  
  
"Good. I think we'll be needing them. Our good friends the pilots are coming this way."  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
The words ZERO came into view on her screen and she grinned. Perfect, she thought. Now I'll show Naomi that ZERO system does in fact make you a better pilot.  
  
She put the helmet over her head that covered her eyes, revealing her smug look. She slipped her hands into the mechanical gloves that had wires at each finger. The Blue Gemini was very much based on the ZERO system. The helmet allowed the pilot to see outside the Gemini, sort of like the screens in the regular Gundams, or like the helmet Dorothy used to control the Mobile Dolls. The gloves that used the controls were worked by nervous impulses; when the Gemini was hit, the gloves vibrated. Her cockpit rotated as well, as if she were in the Gemini's head. But that was only the Blue Gemini's inner strengths.  
  
Arielle smirked. "I see you, Gundam pilots..."  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
//::// Do as you are told, and maybe then we'll let you out  
  
it might be difficult, you might be full of doubt  
  
Don't try to escape, cuz you don't have nowhere to go  
  
If nothing is your fate, there's no scenario  
  
No nothing //:://  
  
"Well," Naomi spoke softly as she looked down at Relena after securing her cell, "you might be out of here faster than you think, princess."  
  
"What do you mean?" she shot back defiantly, her dirty hair whipping her face.  
  
"What I'm saying is," Naomi looked down on her with cold blue eyes, "is that pilots Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, and Quatre Rebarba Winner are coming this way in three Maganac Mobile Suits. If we kill them," she lowered her voice dangerously and eyed Relena with blood thirsty eyes, "you get set free. You're our ransom, haven't you figured that out? I could have killed them in your office, but that's not honorable for a MS fighter to just shoot them then and there; no that wasn't good enough for me. I want to kill them on the battlefield. That's where I belong."  
  
"Please don't kill them!" Relena cried, "if anything, kill me! What have they done to you?"  
  
Naomi glared at her. "We need to keep you alive in order to kill them. It's called a ransom, just in case you forgot."  
  
"Why do you need to kill them?"  
  
"They're obstacles." And with that, Naomi turned her heel and left for the hangar, her graceful form walking away from the distraught captive.   
  
Echoes screamed through the dreary basement, "PLEASE! STOP!"  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
"So what are we going to do, Sato?" the navy head asked with disappointment in the situation.  
  
"Arielle's already set up her model to go into battle. The thing is, if we attack them, they'll recognize us as the three Mobile Suits who attacked those select cities and then know of our location."  
  
"So what you're saying is that if we defend the home base, they'll have our location," Marissa frowned as she looked into the radar screen. "They're a ways from here, so we still have a little more time before they come in visible range."  
  
Naomi stuffed a pair of keys in the pocket of her loose black jeans. "I have an idea, but we'll need your Gemini to help us out, Miratekaki."  
  
"Well, then, Atsui, just tell me what you're thinking of and I'll think about it."  
  
Naomi crossed her arms over her chest hid under a light brown uniform. On a patch on her left side, it said NEAC.  
  
"You'll have to use the White Gemini to burrow a tunnel underground that goes far enough so that we'll be behind the Mobile Suits. Then we attack. Once they are destroyed, we take a normal air route home."  
  
"And," Marissa spoke up, "what if they live."  
  
Both girls eyed her with scorn. "That's why you're staying here and guarding the captive. The Black, Blue, and White Geminis will go and you stay here. You probably want them to live, Natchios."  
  
"Sato, let's go."  
  
"Right."  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
"Colonel Funaki, Officers Bloomfield, Mernon, and Baumen would be best sent to work in Noz. The Noz External Alliance Corporation is meant to aid Noz in any way possible while being a separate organization. Those officers are starting to merge the company with Noz more that keep it EXTERNAL. That is why we are the EXTERNAL alliance." The general paced back and forth in his office. The office was part of the L1 HQ for the NEAC. He stopped and looked out at space.  
  
"We need them to use the new Mobile Suits to help Noz gain total military control of space. It's space Noz is after, Colonel Funaki, not Earth. They want to do better than their leaders before us in Oz. They want to conquer it. We must make sure it's in good grasp. I have a feeling putting them in the main organization." He turned to the woman standing in his office. "You DO understand, correct?"  
  
She blinked, then managed to stutter, "H-hai! Sir! Understood!"  
  
He eyed her suspiciously, then smirked. "Good," he said slowly, "then you are dismissed, Colonel Funaki." Her eyes hardened at the look he gave her. Barely managing to salute him, she turned around and left the office.  
  
Shiori adjusted her badge on her NEAC uniform as she walked down the dark hallway of the headquarters. "Damn those pilots. They are so lucky I didn't bust them for destroying those cities on Earth. I suppose the general wouldn't really mind, though; we must accomplish Noz's goal. That way, we get the profits for helping them out. If the Gemini pilots work in Noz, maybe they can make it even more successful, and then, the NEAC will be rich!" She smiled and looked out from the bridge. "Space is so easy to conquer. If it weren't for the Gundam pilots, it would have been Oz's a long time ago. Now that we have the Gemini on our side, and the Gundam pilots destroyed, no one can rebel against us." She smirked and ran her hand through her bangs. She looked almost like her sister, the Lady Une of Oz, the only difference being the glasses were gone, and her braid was long and down her back, and her hair was more of a redish brown. Still, the same inferior gaze of power hunger was there.  
  
"Noz and the NEAC will take over space, then over Earth. No stupid Earth Sphere United Nations will be needed; it will Noz and only Noz!"  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
Sato breathed into the intercom as the three MSs moved underground. "We're almost in front of them. Get ready, Black, Blue."  
  
Naomi frowned as the battle was approaching. It soon felt as if not battling was the wise solution in this scenario. Should they show themselves as the attackers of the major cities internationally, and as Relena's captor as well?  
  
She shook her head. No, Marissa was right on this one. Stopping her machine, Naomi ordered the Black Gemini to take the slim beam cannon that was on its back and put it into its hand. With one click, she fired her way to make another burrow.   
  
This will end, or should I say begin, a different way.  
  
From a different side. 


	12. Of Pasts Long Forgotten and Unforgiven: ...

A Different Side

By SariaSubi-kun

SariaSubi: You all remember the interruptions, right? I've decided to kind of continue them. Not really to call them interruptions…more like a history. A history on the Gemini pilots, who Shiori is (I have the feeling your heads are scratching) and a bit about NOZ and the NEAC. Each chapter is something different, so if you don't want to read the histories, or not a specific one (like, say you don't want to read what happened to Sato), then just skip over to another one or wait for the next chapter update. I'm writing this all as fast as I can. I hope this clears some things up, AND of course, entertains you. I need those reviews!

(Um….Mr. Winner KINDA doesn't have a name in the anime….so I'm naming him Yuri. I KNOW Yuri's Russian, but Quatre's a French name, so…? And anyways, Quatre's a really white, whiter than most people, platinum blonde Arabic! I don't wanna hear nothing that his father's name ain't Arabic!)

Another thing. I just got a review that asked what happened to Alex. The San Francisco tragedy, caused by Naomi, is really a key thing that happens to Alex. Alex's disappearance DOES have an effect, it's just not entirely visible yet. I have a feeling, however, it may or may not appear in this chapter. It depends. Don't worry. All enigmatic parts will be unveiled. Thank you, however, for the review. Any comments, questions, and yes, unfortunately, flames, will be appreciated and answered.

Of Pasts Long Forgotten and Unforgiven: Naomi Alexandra Atsui

Part I

            Before Naomi was born, many, many years before, when the first colony was completed, regular birth was almost never permitted. The birth defects of the child were severe, and giving birth itself was nearly impossible, especially since the child would never survive. The Winner family, then, started creating artificial humans, born in test tubes. They created twenty nine females, but Catherine Winner wanted to bear her husband's child badly, and so, she gave birth to Quatre Rebarba Winner, and died.

            Even before Catherine's death, Yuri Winner and Yossonan Atsui were best friends. Both of their families had been in space since day one. Although, like the persistent Catherine Rebarba Winner (A/N: I usually don't interrupt in chapters, but let me make clear that Quatre's father is just "Mr. Winner" and that usually when a child has two last names, like Quatre, the first one is usually the mother's maiden name, THEN the father's last name), Cecilia Atsui wanted to bear her husband's child. For a long time, while the 29 Winner daughters were born, Yossonan and Cecilia waited.

            When Cecilia DID bear the child, it had been a year after Catherine had died. Yossonan was worried that his wife would have the same fate, but Cecilia knew in was inevitable. She held the baby girl in her arms with a hopeful smile and handed it to Yossonan, Yuri standing in the doorway, holding Quatre.

            "Only a year apart, these two," Yuri murmured gruffly, "I think they would be good friends one day, eh, Yuri?"

            Cecilia smiled warmly. "That would be wonderful to have them be great friends. Your Quatre seems like a peaceful one."

            Yossonan laughed as baby Naomi kicked her little legs. "But this one is a feisty one. Look, she already wants to fight!"            

            Cecilia didn't die right away. The name Atsui has a distinct meaning in Japanese; warmth. It was said that many years ago, if someone in the family was headstrong and used their name to keep them warm during the winter while others froze, a descendant of theirs would die by the meaning of that same name as well.

            But what does this mean? Cecilia, who was not a descendant of that headstrong samurai, but still bore the name, contracted some kind of disease. There was no name for it, and especially no cure. She started to feel the heat leave her and her skin was cold to the touch. She could no longer hold the baby because it would freeze as well from the lack of body heat. There was one Chinese doctor on Earth who had called up the Atsuis and told them that he could treat her, but she would need to come to Earth, because he was old and had a walking disability. Yossonan quickly agreed; he wouldn't let his wife die. Yuri cheered them on, hopeful for his best friend. They both stood at the dock with their children crawling on each other behind them as they watched Cecilia's plane leave.

            She made it to Earth fine and was treated immediately to the virus-with-no-name. After about a year, Cecilia's condition had recovered so well, that she could return to space. And so, a bright May day, the shuttle holding Mrs. Atsui lifted off into space.

            And exploded right after it left Earth's atmosphere.

            No one knew at all just exactly WHY it had exploded. The only thing left to see what Yossonan's grief. Yuri comforted his "brother" the best he could; I mean, his wife died as well, but no one would want someone to die in a shuttle explosion. Especially when Cecilia was going to make it out just fine through her disease.

            Quatre was two and Naomi was one, and already her hair was shoulder-length and navy as ever. The two children continued to play with each other, though Quatre would sometimes pull on Naomi's hair and make her cry, but she would give him a bop on the nose right back at him. At first, the two men thought it was cute, but lives called, and they had to take a break

            A bit about Yossonan's business and its association with the Winner family: all of space, AND Earth, knew that the Winner family developed the resource satellites and a lot of other things for space. But there was another company who made those satellites with their bare hands.

            It was Atsui Enterprises, the most successful, and just about only, mechanic empire in space. It was an army of mechanics, trained under the great Mr. Atsui himself, and other students he handpicked to train the others. The Atsui company also owned and controlled all the space docks in the colonies. But when OZ moved to outer space, Atsui Enterprises received problems; some of the rebels wanted the company to shut down the ports, others wanted Atsui Enterprises to build Mobile Suits for the war. Yossonan was hesitant at first; his daughter was going to turn fourteen soon and he did not want her to experience war. She was already in a war with her dead mother. That was because the grief stricken Yossonan had lied to her; he told her that Cecilia (well, he never even told her mother's true name) and he were engaged in a fierce divorce and that she lived on the L5 cluster, probably with another man. He prayed to his dear wife up there that she'd forgive him, but understand that he didn't want Naomi to grieve over a mother she never had, especially since she never knew how wonderful her mother was.

            Naomi wanted to be hired into her father's business, even though she was already inheriting it.  She received special training since she was a young one, and a child, of course. And again, Yossonan handpicked a perfect mechanic who would teach his daughter.

            The boy's name was Julius Evakenzie. He was about seventeen, eighteen, with red spiky hair (kind of like that guy from Yami no Matsuei? I'll get his name later….). He was very handsome, but somehow Naomi bypassed that feature, like she didn't even notice it. All the older men chided Julius and told him that he had a little girlfriend. It wasn't that Naomi thought that it wasn't a good idea to become infatuated with her instructor, but that she just never thought about it. Julius was an older brother to her. She never had any siblings…

            When Naomi was young, she never hung out with any of the kids running freely in the streets nor did she smile much. She never found much to smile about anyways, and when she heard the adults say to her "Enjoy your childhood while you can," she would figure it would be a shame that she just couldn't.

            Naomi frowned and scowled so much that when she really did smile, she looked much more beautiful if she didn't. She usually found herself wandering around the hangars of her father's warehouses or did errands like deliver packages for her father and get seven dollars each time she did. 

            But most of her time was standing against the wall of her father's building, which was facing a park in the colony, holding her arm, which seemed to lose feeling every now and then, and stare at the street. She never knew why her arm was like that, but Yossonan kept it hidden from her that that was a birth defect from her mother's illness. The mother that she thought was having a blast only a cluster of these colonies away.

            She looked up to the lights of the colony. "Are these supposed to represent the sun?" she whispered loud enough that it came out as a dead girl talking, moaning as she wandered the empty streets. The street WAS empty, and the lights were starting to darken. "And I suppose this is meant to be the sunset?" She shook her head, her jagged blue hair moving with the movements of her pale-faced head. "Earth isn't made of metal. Not all of it's wonders are electronic. How could man try to imitate them all?" It made her think of the test tube children. She frowned darkly. "That deranged Winner family is wrong. If you want to enjoy the beauty of childbirth and have a real child, do it someplace that's real."

            Naomi never really thought well of the world and had a sort of cynical outlook of it as well. Just like she didn't remember her mother, she never remembered that she had met Quatre as a baby.

            Julius was her only friend. The only one who made her smile.

            She often feared space, but that was because it was cold. Not only had Naomi suffered with the random shots of limpness in her arm, but she hated the cold.       

            Julius ruffled the young teenager's hair, which was kind of already messed up under her "AE" hat. "The space suit is supposed to keep you warm, silly. You'll be fine as long as you have your cord on, and besides," he put his hands on his hips and pushed his chest out like Superman, "you have the Mighty Julius here!"

            Being thirteen, she laughed but took the joke more, well let's say, "maturely" than a girlish giggle she might have given when she was nine. "But what am I, oh mighty one?"

            Julius pouted and looked at his young apprentice. "I'd say Mighty Julius' sidekick who brought him doughnuts." 

            She let herself laugh and slipped her helmet on. "So what do we have to do?"

            "Well," Julius sighed, "after that battle with Gundam 05 and OZ, we have to repair the colony's shield, or it might never be able to defend itself against a blast like that again."

            "Uh-huh. I guess we're lucky that dad's company makes these shields."

            "Yeah," he slipped on his helmet as well and walked over to the moonwalk dock, "but we need to build more. There are five clusters, and lots of colonies. We need to protect them all, not just L4."

            She nodded. "'Kay."

            The rest of the day (or night…you couldn't really tell in space) didn't go well at all.

            That was because when Naomi returned to the dock, she was the only one of the two of them who was alive. Someone had knocked her unconscious and killed him. She buried him herself without anyone else knowing she had done it, even though his family had already planned a funeral. Over her grave, the last tear she shed for him she made a tombstone oath on it.

            "Julius. When I die, I will go to Heaven and see you, because I'll probably end up in Hell. Maybe the Devil will let me visit you. I won't love anyone else anymore. I pledge all my love right now on this grave." She knelt down and slit her hand and let the dripping blood fall on the grass. "You hear me?!" she shouted at the grave, "I'll be your bride in death! I won't give myself to anyone! I'll be stronger than you would ever be, you asshole!" But she ended up crying, shouting in frustration.   

            Deaths in Naomi's life: 2

            Real happiness: Zip

            After Julius died, Naomi became more and more upset with her life in space. Everything reminded her of Julius. She couldn't stand looking at her father's company, because Julius had worked for them. She could stand looking out at space, that was because it reminded her of the fateful night when she brought in the un-helmeted Julius Evakenzie from space. She knew, deep down, there was no way in Hell that someone could survive in space without their helmet.

            The memory screamed at her every night, never letting her sleep……

            "Uhhhh..my head." Naomi tried to reach her head to rub the back of her head, but was blocked by her helmet. She remembered where she was. In space. With Julius. Where was Julius?

            "Julius!" she hollered. Where was he? She searched the void frantically. And she finally found him. With no helmet. And his eyes were opened.

            She sobbed as she floated over to her brotherly-like friend. He had been the brother she never had. "J-juliusss....." The tears floated in her helmet. She gazed into his face. His eyes were wide open with terror. "You must have been scared, Julius," she wept. "How did this happen?!" she screamed at the floating figure. "HOW!!!" She closed her eyes; she couldn't bear the horror. "Why? Who did this?" No answer came except the vague memory of that figure in the navy-blue/black spacesuit that she swore she saw.

            Her thoughts became those of rage. She shook as she fumed. "I...swear...I 

will..." she grit her teeth, "...kill....him..." She looked into space……

            "I'LL KILL HIM!!!!!!!"

            Ever since then, she found it hard to sleep, eat, even look outside.

            A few days later, though, she packed her bags and left for the spaceport her father owned. Yossonan really didn't want her to go. He was getting old, and there _was _the risk of him getting assassinated, like his other friend Heero Yuy had. 

            Yossonan, though, saw the extreme despair in Naomi's eyes. He could never force her to stay. Slowly, he saw, she would die in space. Reluctantly, he let her go.

            But right before she left the colony in the L4, it's name was T3-5692, Naomi had wandered down an ally after hearing a discussion about the assassination of the Atsui mechanic. Seemingly, Julius' death had made news. The men talked about it, but they had said that OZ, which they were soldiers of, it seems, had been blamed for it, just as they were blamed long ago for Heero Yuy's assassination.

            But something else had been mentioned the in conversation. As Naomi listened carefully, she heard that that same Atsui Enterprises mechanic that was murdered a few nights back would have been asked to take a job for OZ on Earth. She knew that she would have come along as well because she was Julius' apprentice. As she left, she made plans to take on the mission herself and try to destroy OZ from there. Naomi had never liked OZ, but she didn't blame them for Julius' assassination. A dark chord struck deep within her that told her that the destruction would ease her pain.

            I guess I just need to destroy, she thought.

            And thus, Naomi's thirst for destruction and bloodshed was born on that very shuttle ride.

            When she arrived on Earth, Naomi contacted her father and received his permission to take on the job. Yossonan, again reluctantly, agreed to keep Naomi in check. The destructive flower had used the wind to spread its seeds, and one of them landed at Yossonan's door. He knew there was something going disastrously wrong in Naomi's damaged mind.

            Naomi and a team of mechanics grounded on Earth arrived at the OZ base outside the woods bordering a small county called Narshimden in southern Canada. She clutched her tools hard as she looked at the faces of the OZ soldiers and their Mobile Suits.

            The Mobile Suit was the reason she was here. The OZ organization had made plans for a fierce Mobile Suit. It was originally developed to assist the Gundams in the original Operation Meteor, but when that had changed its course, the plans were put away. Until OZ realized the threat of the Gundams and their pilots.

            Naomi was called into the OZ colonel's office.

            "Naomi Atsui, the daughter of the famous Yossonan Atsui, who helped build the Winner Resource satellite, eh?" the colonel who seemed in his thirties looked Naomi over.  
            She stood frigid. "Yes, sir."  
            Naomi didn't know if the expression on his face was a smirk or not, but she wanted to rub it off with a knife, she automatically hated him.   
            "The team you are leading is supposed to design one of the most ultimate Mobile Suits. A Mobile Suit that is stronger than the Gundams by far. OZ is planning to unleash this ultimate weapon on the Gundams and destroy them once and for all. We cannot let our grasp over the colonies weaken. Do you understand me, Naomi Atsui?"  
            She nodded. "Yes, sir."  
            "Good. I understand you're the cream of the crop in this enterprise, the assistant of the," he slowed down, "famous Julius Evakenzie?"   
            "Yes, sir." She wished she had a knife.  
            "Well, then I put my trust in your skills. I'll get you the blueprints." He disappeared behind a divider and Naomi heard the sound of some clicks. Must be opening a safe, she thought. He came back from behind the divider and handed the roll of blueprints to her.  
            "Here you are. Take extreme care of them. I would ask the scientists we have caught in outer space who built the Gundams to do this, but I want to place this in the hands of someone who doesn't support the Gundam cause. Doesn't that make sense?"  
            "Yes, sir."  
He smirked for sure this time, leaving Naomi having to check her reflex to stab him. She hated his perverted smirking. "I'm glad you understand. Well, I suggest you go out to the field. Get the job done as quickly as possible, we don't want anyone to find out about our little project." His grin grew. "We want to surprise our little Gundam pilots."  
          "Yes, sir." She left the room clutching the plans. 

            Later that night, Naomi just KNEW she had to dispose of the Gemini. If the power of the Gemini Mobile Suits rivaled with the Gundams practically as much as the Tallgeese if not more, then the Gundams would never win this war.

            A few hours passed as the men from her team finally started getting to work after getting the required parts and metals together. As they were finishing up for the day, Naomi lingered. In the back of the working field, there was another hangar with a carrier. Making sure no one was in the building, she quickly shot the security cameras. This was her chance!  
            Naomi loaded a transporter truck with the whatever parts were created and drove it over to the hangar. In the hangar, she quickly loaded the contents on to the carrier plane. She heard vehicles coming her way, so she knew she had to hurry. Just as flashlights appeared in the hallway, she jumped into the cockpit, the Gemini plans held tightly in her sweaty palms.

_            "…but I want to place this in the hands of someone who doesn't support the Gundam cause. Doesn't that make sense?"_

If only he knew. 

            "Hey! What are you doing!" She ignored them, and the plane started to move. 

            Naomi set the plane on automatic pilot for about three miles, in the direction of the neighboring woods. She knew after the three miles, it would need a pilot to land it, or it would crash, destroying everything inside. Naomi jumped out of the cockpit as the plane took flight.  
            "There she is!" She landed on her arm, knowing she broke it, but she didn't care. She still had the plans. She ran out of the hangar and into another one, her pursuers following her closely.  
            She was running out of breath. As strong as she was, she was still only a thirteen-year-old girl. These were grown men who were chasing her.   
            She found an opening in the next hangar and dashed towards it.  
            

            "_Well, then I put my trust in your skills."  
            _

            You never should have, colonel. OZ will never see the Gemini.  
            Naomi just exited the hangar and wanted to stop for a breath. Just for a second, she thought.

            It had all ended, or maybe I should say began, there.

            The guards there knew that she was a traitor, just as the colonel had expected. He had ordered to shoot her down if she ever rebelled. The soldiers thought about the madness of killing a thirteen-year-old, but and enemy was an enemy. With great hesitation, as Naomi was on the outskirts  of the forest, they pulled their triggers, the loud blast ringing out through the night, and right afterwards, the small thump of the metal ripping through human flesh.

            The colonel in his room had removed his hand from between his legs and sat up and grinned. "Poor little girly."

            To Naomi, however, it wasn't such a simple explanation. At the time, at least, it wasn't.

            She had the feeling they were going to shoot even before they did it, but they were simple OZ soldiers, how was she expect them to hit her so well when they couldn't even hit a big fat target like a Gundam?

            But they hit her, alright. The first bullet hit her leg, but the other (maybe ten?) bullets hit her hard; a ripping sound on the side of her stomach, the side of her neck, her two shoulders, her lower back. She screamed out loud as they hit her, blood exploding from her mouth. With her failing strength, she limped to the forest and collapsed, the plane still flying its course over the woods. She collapsed on the ground and rolled over on her back, the blood leaving a trail on the grass. The bullets went further into her back, and she arched, then started heaving uncontrollably, the fight to stay alive thrusting her upright. More dark blood flowed in a river out of her mouth, her hand immediately grasping it, and getting soaked in the process. The sour smell and taste of her blood added nothing to it. Naomi felt like she threw up her insides and she vomited, and then collapsed on her stomach, throwing what was ever left inside around in a jumble. 

            Two silent tears ran down her cheeks before she closed her eyes. One for her father, one for her friend. 

            _"I'll be your bride in death!"_

            It seems it won't be long until we're reunited, huh Julius?

            As her eyes closed, the scream of the plane shot her ears as it crashed not too far from her in the forest.

            //::// I promised I would find a piece of mind

            if I didn't feel so desperate to hold on

            and have you fall in my place //:://

            The story on the outside ends there. The OZ soldiers reported that Naomi Alexandra Atsui had died in the fire caused by the plane she had launched. No body was found, however. That's because her story still goes on.

            Naomi's eyes barely forced themselves open. She looked up at the wooden ceiling and groaned. 

            "Am I dead?"

            "No, you're not. At least, not here."

            She tried to turn her head, but winced as the mark where the bullet had grazed her neck burned. Some person, it had to be a woman or girl by voice, was running a sink and seemed to be washing her hands.

            "Stop being so enigmatic. Why am I alive?" she growled, "I swore I died."

            The girl turned away from the sink, wiping her hands on a hand cloth. Naomi could see now that this girl was a little shorter than her, and definitely not Japanese. She was tan and had short, rugged almost-black hair. Her glasses were a little big for her eyes, and she dressed very plainly. She didn't look Canadian either.

            "And who the hell are you?" she spat.

            The girl shook her head. "For someone who saved your life, you are really ungrateful." Naomi frowned at her. "Or will you tell me that you were committing self-righteous suicide?"

            "It's not of your business."

            "Well, I _did_ save you. You might as well tell me your name, though I already have a feeling who you are."

            "Then what is it?" she said dangerously low.

            The girl looked at the television that she had shut off moments ago. "You are Naomi Atsui. You are thirteen years old and was reported dead at 3:00 AM in a forest fire. The body was not found and is thought to have been scorched, though no remains of DNA has been found among the cinders. But, seeing how shot you are, the fire killing you wasn't possible. And I saw you launch the plane, which crashed and caused the fire."

            Naomi's eyes widened. "I was pronounced dead already. Oh my God!" her hands flew to her face as she shrieked, "Father!" 

            The girl winced and took a step closer, so cautiously as if she were approaching a lion. "For now, Naomi, you'll have to deal with it." She edged closer. "You're not healed yet, so you can't go back now. I'm sure your father will understand. Now please, get some rest."     

            Naomi nodded numbly as the girl gently placed her hands on Naomi's shoulders, as not to hurt her, and laid her back down on the bed. Even with all the chaos going on in those five minutes, Naomi quickly found sleep.

            This time when her eyes forced themselves open, it didn't hurt. The area where the intense amount of bandages were was still sore, but there was no blood-curdling-screaming pain. That girl from before wasn't there, but the television was on. The bed creaking loudly as she slowly hoisted herself out of it, she tiptoed over to the small loveseat in front of it.

            The news reporter was in the middle of her sentence. "And on further news, the owner  and CEO of Atsui Enterprises, Yossonan Atsui, is still suffering the loss of his daughter Naomi, who was pronounced dead five days ago. No remains were found of her from the father, none of the ashes showing any trace of her DNA. There will be a memorial service in her memory tonight at 7. Back to you, John." She wanted to gasp, but she figured it would hurt her wounds too much.

            It had already been five days since the OZ incident.

            So that meant she had slept for four….or was it three? It hurt to think. 

            The girl entered the room again, her red hooded sweater falling loosely on her, like it was really Naomi's size and didn't fit her small figure. 

            "You seem to know everything about me, but I still have no fucking idea who you are. Care to tell me your name, damnit?"

            She shook her dark brown head. "My name is Marissa Natchios. Really, you and I are one in the same."

            "What the fu—" but she stopped herself. That name.

            Natchios.

*Flashback*

            "Here, honey. Take a look at this paper." Naomi frowned and skimmed over page seven of the _Colonial Page_. "_Now_ do you understand why I want you to be careful in the warehouse?"

            She grunted, leaned back in the chair, and crossed her arms over her chest. "A girl was exploded by explosives. She looks seven. Maybe she played with matches. In the end, she was stupid and blew up."

            Yossonan's frown deepened. "She was thirteen like you, Naomi." He took a sip of his coffee and resumed making his daughter breakfast. Her eyes scanned him. This was CEO Yossonan Atsui. In a pinstriped robe making his teenage daughter eggs while he sipped coffee.

He continued, "She was actually college level in physics and medical science."

            "And?"

            "You should sound more interested. Those stats compete with yours."

            "So I can write. Who care? I'm not smart anywhere else."

            He shook his head. "It seems she was with a team of scientists but got lost. Really, many people had thought she had died a few years ago."

            She strained herself to look interested. "Go on."

            "It seems she belonged to one of those tribes in the tunnels of Greece somewhere…the Zasziche-Watokali I think it was called."

            "An Indian freak, really."

            "Naomi! Anyways, she had been in an accident when she was young, causing the death of her father, who was like the tribe's leader. She never said anything _against_ her sentence, which was exile. She then, they said on the news,"—sip—"tried to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff. She never did, and to take the thought off her mind, the hospitals made her study. She became excellent, really gifted they say, and took this trip to a medical facility. Well, being a thirteen year old, she got lost, and unfortunately, found the unstable explosives room. But it said that she never caused the explosion; UNSTABLE explosives."

            Naomi grunted. So what? Whoop-dee-freaking-doo. But her eyes found their way to the article.

            The name was long, and it was stupid, but it said:

            "Marissa Anshi Shuukaku Natchios."

*End Flashback*

            She regained herself. "O-one in the same?" she stuttered, the words getting caught in her throat.

            Marissa nodded. "The whole world thinks I'm dead, too. But, you see," she turned her back on Naomi and paced the room slowly, "you can go back. I can't. I read that newspaper article about me when I supposedly 'died.'"

            "So it's true, you really did try to commit suicide?"

            She nodded sadly. "Yeah. You have no idea what it's like to have a mother who hates you. She gladly told the media everything about me with cold eyes and hot hatred." She shook her head. "You need to get well soon, Naomi. Your father is devastated. You need to save him from his loneliness."

            Numbly, she nodded her head, but her mind wasn't on her father. It was on what had "killed" her.

            Her purpose to go to the OZ base was so she could steal the plans for the Gemini, this elite Mobile Suit that OZ had  developed to fight against the Gundams. But since Naomi had supported the Gundams, she came to steal the plans so that the suit would never be developed under OZ's control. There was also the plane she had set off. She was supposed to have stolen one of their Jeeps and drive into the opposite direction of the base and the plane should have crashed and burned down the base or at least caused a diversion. 

            So was my plan really successful? she thought. In a way it had been. The base _had_ burned down and OZ no longer had the Gemini plans. But, where were they?!

            Frantically, Naomi remembered putting them in her shirt so that no one could take them from her. She patted her chest, but she didn't find the papers. Marissa raised an eyebrow and laughed softly.

            "If you are looking for the Gemini plans, I have them. I retyped them as well, since they were all bloody and shot up."

            "Give them to me."

            She smiled and nodded her head. Marissa stood up and walked over to a table against the wall, which stood right next to the television. Sure enough, the paper was there. 

            Naomi looked over them. They seemed exactly the same as the original copy. She looked up. "I hoped you burned it."

            "Of course. They would find them with me and I would be blamed for keeping them, and seeing the blood, of murdering you."           

            She nodded and continued to look over the plans. "It's amazing how you've copied them so well. It just seems one part of this has been changed."

            "I see you've noticed."

            "Yes. It says that the pilot requires a high…life force? to pilot the Gemini."

            Marissa shrugged. "I'm a doctor. It basically means," she traced her finger to the formula, "that the pilot must be in perfect health statistics so that the Mobile Suit can excel at full performance."

            "You've seemed to coordinate it with the other figures."

            "I did. It isn't exactly easy for me, but I'm sure a mechanic like you knows this stuff."

            Naomi leaned back on the bed and sighed, her eyes catching a solemn glow. Marissa noticed it. "What's wrong?" she asked with concern.

            "It's just…" she trailed off, "I expected that after I stole the Gemini and made my get away, destroying the base, that I would return to my father and have him build it, so that way the people at the OZ base would be dead and not object to theft, or…I would have….lived alone and built it myself."

            Marissa's eyes widened. "You support the Gundams, don't you?"

            "Don't you?"

            "Since I've never lived on the colonies before, I used to always support the UESA. But since this whole thing…I don't know. But Naomi, what would you do with the Gemini?"

            "Probably help the Gundams and try to destroy OZ. That's who I hate the most."

            "I see. I do oppose OZ. I would help your cause if I could. But you would never be able to have your identity revealed. That would cause corruption to your father's business, for those who support OZ, AND what will the world think when your father finds out you deliberately kept yourself known as a casualty?"

            She shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe I'll never be able to reveal my face to society again. The fact of the matter is, the world thinks I'm dead. But, I want to get rid of OZ so badly!" She slammed her fist backwards into the wall, causing it to tremble. "I hate them! And I know they killed Julius!" Her anger gave her heavy breaths, and it was hard to calm down. Like not so long ago, she rose her head hypnotically with bloodthirsty eyes.

            "The Gemini will be completed, and OZ will be dust."

            Naomi fell asleep for three days again. When she woke up, she heard some voices in the room next to the one she slept in.

            "Yes, Mother. She seems perfect for it. I had a feeling you'd come after you heard about the Gemini plans."

            Marissa…? she thought faintly. No, she couldn't be talking about her mother. Her mother thought she was dead and hated her, right? Or was that a dream and she was really waking up NOW. No, that wasn't right. How would she know the girl's name? Naomi shook her head. Nothing made sense at the moment.

            An old woman's voice spoke. "Those old men think that I should have taken a student under wing, but my sister is so restless, she wants one too. Oh, this is perfect. We just need two more pilots."

            "What do you mean, and who the hell are you?" Both Marissa and the old woman looked up from the table in the kitchen as Naomi appeared in the doorway.  

            But the old squaw smiled. "Nice to meet you, Naomi Atsui. My name is Phoenix."

            Naomi's eyebrow rose. "Excuse me?"

            "My name is Phoenix, but by many names. Some call me Lady Phoenix, some may call me Mother Phoenix, like Marissa, or some  even call me Madame Phoenix. Whichever you choose."

            "I'm just going to call you old woman, got it?" Naomi folded her arms and slumped into the chair. 

            But Lady Phoenix waved it by as if it were nothing with a smile. "Fine, fine dear. Now, I should explain things to you."

            "It is true that when they found Marissa's body, she was pronounced dead. But ever since she was abandoned by her family, I have taken care of her. I disguised myself as an old grandmother who wanted to bury her grandchild. But Marissa was far from dead. 

            "You may wonder where I stand in society, you may not, but I am going to tell you anyways. You obviously know about the Gundams. There are five of them. Five pilots, five Gundams. But the Gundams didn't come out of nowhere, though some believe so. Five scientists created the Gundams and trained the Gundam pilots. The creator of the Wing Gundam is Dr. J; the creator of the Gundam Deathscythe is Professor G; the creator of Gundam Heavyarms is Doktor S; the creator of the Gundam Sandrock is Instructor H; and the creator of the Shenlong Gundam. I am actually the wife of Doktor s."

            Naomi blinked. "You are? Is your child a Gundam pilot?"

            She shook her head. "No, we were married in our fifties. I am a bit of a scientist as well, but I let my husband do his own work. We actually met on a research project concerning Operation Meteor. But back to my point. When OZ was created, it became apparent it had to be destroyed, along with the injustice of the USEA. My husband chose a young man named Trowa Barton to pilot his suit, and the others went on so forth. He's about a year older than you girls, the same with the other pilots. Now that it's deeper into A.C 195, months are passing like days. We fear the war will be over soon, but OZ is strong, nonetheless. Even the war DOES end, rebels that still support the war will live on and start war again. By that time, who knows what will have happened to the Gundams and their pilots? That's what I am calling on you for, Naomi. You are an excellent mechanic, I know that much. I'm asking you to build the Gemini and find two other pilots to help you and have models of their own. Just like the Gundams can't do this alone, neither can you, no matter how much you want to believe it. Marissa here, I believe, can help you as well."

            Naomi's dark blue eyes went back and forth between Marissa and the old woman. She really wasn't sure about Marissa. She really did just meet her. And was this woman crazy or what? But still, she had a point. The Gundams would probably be finished by the time a new enemy sprang up. As long as man existed, she believed, there would always be conflict. That's what started this war, and it would start another.

            Besides, she hated to owe Marissa a favor. 

            Her eyes focused on the small girl. "You did make smart alterations to the plan. How well can you pilot?"

            "Well enough."

            "That's not good enough by word. I'll have to see you."

            "How's this?" she smirked, holding her hand up, "by tomorrow morning I'll have you two Taurus suits so that you can start building anywhere you like. AND I'll draw up plans for a base if you want to build one."

            Naomi cocked her eyebrow. "So you're more like the brains of the outfit."

            She nodded with confidence. "And you have to admit: no one suspects a cute girl like me."

            Naomi lay in a different bed that night. The room was her own, and it was dark, the only light the milky shine the moon and stars fell into the room from the one window on the wall. She watched the moon's reflected in her window slowly move as the night moved on, almost refusing to sleep. Many thoughts had come to her head that she just couldn't sleep.

            I guess my life as Naomi Atsui is over for now. I'll have to become someone else. A girl who found Naomi's body and then stole the plans and went off to build the Gemini. I'll take Marissa and we should build the base in somewhere desolate, and definitely not in this country. Maybe somewhere like Saudi Arabia and we could build it in the desert. That would be a good idea. I think I could build a small one-person flight transport to fly somewhere and get resources, and then fly home and we'll continue to build. But there's this thing with the other two pilots…who will they be? I'm not completely sure about this…

            The morning came after long hours of restless sleep (when it finally came). Marissa wasn't back yet, but Lady Phoenix was in the kitchen making tea. She offered some to Naomi as she walked in, but she wrinkled her nose. She hated tea.

            Naomi listened to the metronome of the clock, counting its well-timed beats. Only, one time, she was sure one beat was too short. But when Naomi picked her head up to look at the clock, the ticking had resumed.

            Life is kind of like that, she thought. It's supposed to seem so normal, but when something goes too short or too fast, the whole beat of it gets messed up.

            Her eyes became dark. Like my plans for the Gemini. They were completely altered. OZ made everything go wrong. Damn them all to hell, those bastards. She clenched her fist that was on the table, causing it to vibrate, Lady Phoenix's teacup shaking as well. The old woman frowned at the whole scene. She leaned over and touched Naomi's hand.

            The young girl whipped her head up and the sudden warm touch against her ice hand. It was so sudden, it had caught her off guard. But this warmth…it was like kindness was behind it.

            Phoenix smiled. "Naomi, you are so young and beautiful. You should see it; very few girls are graced with that. But you scowl so much soon your FROWN is going to be your main quality. Why, I can see in a few years now, people will look at your smile, and say that you look more beautiful when you put that revengeful mask on."

            "Mask, old woman?" she looked at her strangely, "this ain't no mask. You have no idea what I've gone through. Leave your kindness on someone else's doorstep. I'm going to get my revenge, and then—"

            "Then what, Naomi?"

            Naomi looked down at the table. "I'll either kill myself or have someone do that for me."

            But the old squaw didn't gasp like someone of her age normally would. She just shook her head and chuckled. "Well, you have an interesting look on life. Now, Marissa will be coming with the carrier plane soon, so I suggest you pack your things and get some fresh air. We're on the opposite edge of the woods, so no one should see you."

            Naomi took the woman's advice. It had seemed like forever since she had last been outside. When she opened the door, the strange maze of trees and grass confused her. It was obviously different from it's opposite side. But just standing at the stoop bored her. The real fresh air, she thought, is in the woods.

            Strangely enough, Naomi felt more at ease when she was in a place like this. First of all, she was ALONE, and just noticing the trees and plants and woodland animals just took her thoughts off OZ. Soon, an old Linkin Park song she liked started playing in her head. Soon enough, she had started to hum it.

            But another hum had risen up. Immediately, Naomi stopped, but the other one continued. She whipped her head in all directions, her hair flying with her head's violent jerks. A stick broke. Naomi jerked her head in the sound's direction and saw a girl her age with chestnut brown hair and green eyes. Nearly a mirror image of her with different colors…

            "Who the hell are you?!"

SariaSubi: FWAP! End of part one. I need a chapter or two until part two comes up. Now to continue with the histories. These take a while, so try to stay content with this for now. I also gotta update my YGO fic….

Now, who do YOU think was the girl? Eh? Eh?


	13. Paella of Gundams

A Different Side

By SariaSubi-kun

SariaSubi: I really want to thank everyone for the reviews you have sent me. It really means a lot to me. I want to try and see if maybe I can come up with ten by the end of the month. 

Thank you for staying with my story so far. Like I said, it means a lot, and it urges me to keep on writing. I don't care if I only get ten reviews. What matters is that people are reading. Thank you so much, my readers!

Navi: And don't forget about me! I was here when it started.

SariaSubi: Maybe forgetting about you is a bad thing….I mean, you're making me put dumb humor into my intros. People don't think this is funny, you know.

Navi: Okay, let's put something funny into it. Something Quatre would never say:

::in his Gundam:: WHEEEE!

^^"

Chapter Twelve

//:://Realized I can never win  
Sometimes I feel like I have failed  
Inside, where do I begin?  
My mind is laughing at me  
Tell me, why am I to blame?  
Aren't we suppose to be the same?  
That's why I will never change  
This thing that's burning in me//:://

            She had smashed the intercom receiver on the control panel. The calls from Sato and Arielle were really starting to get to her. Naomi knew very well that she had fallen of course.

            "Don't you see? I mean for it to go this way." She knew that by the time she had reached her destination, the Black Gemini would need to be refueled. "That's fine by me," she switched on the Conservative mode. "Now all I need to do is get far from visible sight from the others, avoid any underground aqueducts and pipelines, and then I can surface. Maybe I can get into space and take some break time." She leaned back and sighed as she put the Mobile Suit on auto-pilot for a couple of kilometers. It would be a long journey into space.

            She cringed. Naomi hated traveling into space by herself. Her mother died going into space, and ever since, she hated it. When she was fifteen, she had found out her father had lied to her. Her mother never divorced him. She had gone to Earth for treatment on an unnamed disease. When she was finally treated and ready to come home, her shuttle exploded only a few miles out of the earth's hemisphere, killing Cecilia Atsui.     

            Naomi really couldn't blame her father for lying to her_. I mean, who would want their child to know their mother exploded in a shuttle? She shook her head__. I guess it's better this way. But poor father has lost both his wife, now. _

            She closed her eyes, letting the gravity off Earth pull at the Gemini and the rumble of the engine lull her to sleep as the Mobile Suit set off for space

//::// This is my December

this is my time of the year  
this is my December

this is all so clear //:://

            Her sleepy mind let her wander, and soon she stood on Earth. The cold December froze her skin. She stoop atop a hill, looking at the snow-covered trees, her snow-covered home for the winter. The snow was beneath her feet, crunching under her boots.

//::// This is my December

this is my snow covered home

this is my December

this is me alone //:://

            The snow and hill faded, and soon Naomi was left standing in the darkness, a sadness coming across her eyes.

//::// And I give it all away

just to have somewhere to go to

Give it all away

to have somewhere to go home to //:://

            That's what she felt. Sometimes she felt like she could give up her war just to have a warm home to go come home to, a blanket and a fire, a father there who would hold her and keep her warm. Or even a best friend. She could finally smile, and the sadness would be gone. Forever…

            No, that wasn't Naomi's reality. It would never be; it was just another world, some portal far, far away she just couldn't find. Forever, she would stand on the side, cold and empty, and watch everyone have happiness.

            A silent tear slid down her cheek, even through her closed eyes, but she winced through her nightmare. Some people had so much happiness, why couldn't she? Her past was so full of pain, and the faces that haunted her were out enjoying their lives. Just like that Winner. She hated him with all her black heart. He had happiness. Even Heero Yuy had happiness. But she hated Winner even more. And that was because he was Alex's friend. Not hers.

            She opened her ice blue eyes, dark as midnight as she looked out into space. She was already there, and she barely noticed. Was she wallowing in her solitude this whole time? Naomi sighed. The sadness was there again, but she replaced it with hate. It was easier to hate others than hate herself.

            All her life, she had wondered what she had done to the world to deserve this punishment. Even _before_ she had slaughtered San Francisco, a strange sadness had plagued her and never let her free. Like chains of ice were holding her down in Hell, the fires engulfing her, turning her into one of their demons. It was too late now. Nothing could save her. Her mind only fed on violence and pain, suffering. She wanted the whole world to feel it. She wanted to set the Earth on fire.

//::// This is my December

these are my snow covered trees

this is me pretending

this is all I need //:://

            Naomi didn't want or need anyone else. Technically, she could do without the other Gemini pilots. It was that damned old woman, who was, what, 100? telling her that her way of life was wrong. That _people would get so used to her frowning, they would wish she would never smile_. The only smile she had was the one that appeared when she spilled blood. _That _way_, everyone could suffer, share her pain, her rage._

            But most of all, she wanted to make _him mad. Just like when he took the Wing Zero and destroyed those colonies, Naomi wanted to make Quatre Rebarba Winner break and loose all control over his perfect sanity. It had become a small obsession of hers, but that didn't matter. She would kill the Gundam pilots, kill NOZ, and then…she sighed. Probably kill herself._

            _Maybe there's something out there for me, she thought as she imagined herself somewhere else. Maybe in Tokyo during a warm summer evening, standing out in the streets, the rain coming down like soft pieces of liquid snow. They would hit her bare arms and turn to warm droplets instantly, and she closed her eyes. __But__ this is only a fantasy. There's so much that I wish was real…_

            Soon she was asleep again, dreaming, probably about things that would never be real. But she was in a room. A dark room on Earth, and outside a storm was raging. She was only thirteen in the dream. The room was empty, nothing but a bland carpet and a window, showing the thunderstorm outside. Naomi was in the corner by the window, holding her arms against a cold that only she felt. But no matter how much she rubbed her arms, she remained cold. The claps of thunder grew louder and louder.

            The room was quite dark that she could only see a little ways away from her, whatever the lightning from outside revealed when it flashed. But she could see, as she hugged her knees towards herself, that the shadows were growing. More and more, they pervaded the room. Thirteen-year-old Naomi, scared and frightened, watched with wide, bloodshot eyes and the darkness came closer to her and devoured her…

            Her eyes shot open. She looked at the controls to make sure she was still on course. She figured she could make it to the moon in a matter of minutes. 

            The lunar base had changed once NOZ came out. The base supplied NOZ, but it was controlled by the NEAC. At convention centers on the moon were held meetings relating NOZ issues. The government there, if you would call it that, didn't often welcome the number of troops sent to the moon, however, because it made a tense atmosphere, making it look like there might be a war. It made it look like part of the fighting that the security was needed for would come to the moon because the lunar base supported NOZ through the NEAC.

            Since Naomi was part of the NEAC, she should do fine there.

            "Damnit," she breathed. Unlike the Red Gemini, she couldn't become invisible and dock on the moon. Sure, with the Hyper Jammer she could stay off the radar, but someone would notice a big, black Mobile Suit that was just on the news destroying San Francisco eventually. She looked around, searching for a space asteroid nearby that she could land the Gemini. _No, that won't work…damnit all. She sighed. Naomi would just have to store it in its hiding place on the L3 and take a shuttle to the moon. That meant she would have to stop by Lady Phoenix's place, which was on the other side of the colony, under a great deal of cover, buy some more brown hair dye and some green contacts. She figured she could just put her hair up in a hat like she did in Relena's office and walk around discreetly. She still had her NEAC uniform on._

            Which made her retrace her thoughts back to Relena. What was Marissa doing with her now?

            Ah, it didn't matter. Naomi had shut her radio off already. If she was to turn it on again, she would have Sato's and Arielle's voice ringing in her ears forever.

            "Now, to switch directions," she instructed herself out loud. The Black Gemini stopped in midair, turned itself, and blasted off, heading towards Colony 85546 of the L3 Colony Cluster.

            Marissa looked around the empty kitchen, sighing dejectedly. Sato and Arielle always overpowered her. The only one who sometimes accepted her was Naomi, but that was because she felt she owed her something since Marissa _had saved her life. But no, that probably wasn't why. She had already repaid Marissa by making her a Gemini pilot. Yeah, but for _this?_ No. No way. She would rather still be living in the woods in Canada._

            An idea popped into her head. She would show them. _Yes, that's it! she congratulated herself in her mind. She darted out of the kitchen, down the hallway, into the hangar, and then, running across the wide open area, opened a large steel door. She pulled on it hard, for she was very small compared to its size and weight. Her knuckles grew white, her fingers sore and red. _Come on_, she scolded herself, _come on!_ The room behind there was a control room that only Naomi knew about. The way Marissa had found out was completely by luck. She was sitting in her cockpit, checking out the controls, when Naomi herself opened the door. How Marissa had stayed hidden through the whole thing and not have Naomi notice her was a miracle, but it happened, and she knew about it now._

            Sweat dampened her forehead. With one cry, she ripped the large door open and flung herself inside. She knew that it only opened by control from the inside. A button on the outside would make it too noticeable. 

            Marissa gaze in sheer awe at the room. It was dark, mostly, but there were some red lights in the creases where the ceiling and wall met. She walked over to the large screen and controls.

            "Damnit!" she cursed in a quieted shriek. She had forgotten to take some gloves with her to cover her hands so Naomi wouldn't find fingerprints. Marissa was sure that Naomi was smart enough to test for that kind of stuff in a hidden place like this. Fumbling with her shirt, she took it off and wrapped it around her hands, binding them lightly together. The room swept with a chill, and she was cold with only a camousel* covering her torso, but it was better to get a chill than to get killed by a fellow Gemini pilot. She knew very well Naomi _would if she found out Marissa was here._

            Her hand wrapped her shirt, she typed what she thought was the access combination.

            PASSWORD. 

            Marissa frowned. Ah, damnit, there were so many things that she could type. NAA, Atsui, Naomi, Alex, Alexandra, Julius, Yossonan, Gemini…ugh!

            _This could go on for hours, __and I only want to do something for three seconds. She bit her lip and looked at the damned keyboard, but her eyes widened when she noticed something. Looking closely at the keyboard, at the two ends of the letters there were some cracked keys, bending inwards. She gasped, realizing what it was. She balled her hands into fists and put them in the depressions._

            They fit! But this had to mean…she realized it for sure then, and she could picture Naomi doing it herself. Naomi must have been frustrated at one point and slammed her fists into the keyboard. An idea jumped into her head again. Maybe that was the password! It could be. Marissa balled her hands into fists again, knowing that fingerprints couldn't be deciphered by a fist, and put them not even a centimeter hovering over the depressions in the keyboard. With a violent thrust, her hands bashed down onto the keyboard, hitting the keys they covered. 

            ACCESS GRANTED 

            She grinned devilishly and licked her lips. "Yes," she cracked her knuckles and wrapped her hands in her shirt again. What she actually wanted to do is track the three Geminis and shut them down.

            Blue Gemini; status: 6.436 kilometers away

            White Gemini; status: 6.545 kilometers away

            Black Gemini; status: NOT FOUND

            Marissa nearly fell off her feet. "Not found?! What do you mean?" She shook her head. Did that mean that Naomi was…in space? But wasn't she supposed to be in the attack with the others? It didn't matter. As long as she could stop Sato and Arielle from attacking, that would be perfect. 

            It took her a while, but at the end, she figured she had it. The status of the White and Blue Gemini was slowing down dramatically. And then it didn't take long before they were completely disabled. 

            Then, Marissa fled from the room and went down to the basement where Relena was held.

            Naomi pulled a large coat over her, making sure the collar was still flipped up. She adjusted the baseball cap on her head, making sure that none of her blue hair showed. She walked swiftly through the crowd, her head bent down so no one would see her face. _Be like you're invisible. __Let people nudge you. Say nothing. Just keep walking. Don't look up unless you need to._

            She approached a small hair care shop and smiled. Pushing open the door, she pushed past the other girls. All of them were tall and beautiful, all smiling and bright. She snickered. They disgusted her. They knew nothing about pain and suffering, war or blood. They could never stain their hands without screaming in fright. _She had to stand there and be soaked in blood until she _was_ the blood. _She _was the violence, _she_ was the war._

            As quickly as she could, she swiped a bottle of chestnut brown hair dye and tore off the label. Taking a piece of wax paper out of her large coat pocket (it always came in handy every once and a while), she swiftly wrapped the bottle in it and stuffed it in her coat under her armpit. Shoving her hands into her pockets, she slipped out of the store unnoticed.

            Stealing and shoplifting wasn't new to her: it was basically how she lived. 

            At the nearest drugstore, she walked inside unnoticed and found a box of green contacts. She was about to walk out the door, when the cashier caught her.

            "You going to pay for that, sir?"

            _D'oh__! she mentally smacked herself. _Yes, yes_, she remembered she was disguised as a boy. She turned around and smiled. "Ah, yes sir!" she clapped her hands together. "I'm sorry," she rubbed the back of her head as she followed the cashier back to the register. "I'm in a bad mood, so I kinda forgot to pay for it. I have to buy this for a sister that _really_ gets on my nerves."_

            The chubby cashier chuckled as picked up the package Naomi placed on the counter.. "Heh, yeah, I know how you feel, kid. I got a sister who's a pain in the neck." He was about to scan it, when Naomi stopped him.

            "Wait, man. It looks like somethin's wrong with the box." Naomi snatched the box from him and looked at it closely. The cashier bent forward. "Look at this," Naomi pointed at the box. The cashier leaned even more forward, adjusting his glasses.

            He was almost completely over the counter right now. "What is it, kid?"

            Naomi stepped back and let him take the box. She laughed at him in her head and let one of her sick, evil smiles slip past her still façade. _Stupid man. She reached behind him and, straightening her hand, chopped the back of his neck. He let out a low groan as his eyes widened at the pain, but he soon fell forward, letting the package of contacts fall from his limp hand._

            Naomi caught the man. "Someone help," she called in a relaxed tone, "this guy's unconscious." She let him fall as a few employees came over to the chubby man immediately, looks of worry all over their faces. _Probably thinking he had a heart attack. Now they'll take him to the hospital, and he'll have to pay a nice bill for his stay. She was so cruel, but she smiled at the thought. _Yeah, I'm evil. I _could_ have paid for that. I have more than enough money with me_._

            But she pushed her way out of the store and walked down the streets, the bottle of hair dye in her hand.

            After a while, she looked up at a series of apartment buildings.  _Which one was she, damnit?_ Naomi frowned and scratched her arm, the long coat becoming itchy on her. She looked up at the building again, the dull white paint slowly chipping off the fake bricks. She narrowed her eyes, looking into one of the windows.

            She saw an old woman move slowly to the window and small balcony. The window-door opened and she walked out, a black shawl draped over her shoulders. _Hmmm. The woman looked down at Naomi, a serious tone on her face. She nodded, frowning deeply, and limped back inside._

            Naomi looked up at the window one more time. Then she shrugged and headed towards the door of the building. _Phoenix__ has to be making more androids again, because they're the same every time. Same gray, nasty face with a black shawl. I wonder if the neighbors notice that isn't her. _

            She got up to floor she assumed the android woman came out of (maybe 5 or so) and walked down the hall. _Look for the only one that doesn't smell like foreign, and disgusting, cooking she told herself, wrinkling her nose in disgust as she passed the homes she guessed belonged to some Swedish or German family. _

            The last door was at the end of the hall, and around the corner. There was only a small hallway, even though it was more like a nook, that led to one door. _This should be it_ she smiled halfway, opening the door.

            But one of the those old woman androids had answered it for her. Naomi looked at the machine strangely but said nothing. She walked inside and looked around. The apartment seemed normal enough, the good side it not smelling bad. She slipped her jacket off and threw it on a nearby loveseat, throwing her hat off with it. Then she set off on finding the old woman.

            Quatre sat in his office, rubbing his temple. The whole collision with those two Gemini left him with a big headache. He looked at the papers of information in front of him.

            The data _still_ didn't say what the names of the Gemini were. But assuming from the week before, when the Black Gemini destroyed San Francisco, they were called the White and the Blue Gemini. It was so strange, the way they looked, the way they were modeled.

            "It's like a mold of our five Gundams together," he sighed. Then his head shot up. _Wait, the Gumdans! He flipped through the sheets of paper, looking at each and everyone. He saw pieces of designs from the Wing, Deathscythe, Heavyarms, Altron, Shenlong, even his own Sandrock was built into these models._

            "How did they make this?" he dropped the papers, his eyes wide. His hands were trembling, even though they no longer held the papers. A _paella__ of their Gundams…_

            And it made the Gemini.


	14. Of Pasts Long Forgotten and Unforgiven: ...

A Different Side

By SariaSubi-kun

SariaSubi: And now part two! -_-" Although I didn't get any reviews on part one…or the chapter after it…

Of Pasts Long Forgotten and Unforgiven: Naomi Alexandra Atsui

Part II

            "Who the hell are you?!" Naomi stood in stance, ready to rip the hair off the girl in front of her, even though it didn't make much sense to, especially since she just laid eyes on her.

            The girl was shaking. "My…my name is…"

            "Spit it out, damnit!" She could barely realize _why_ she seemed so angry at the girl.

            "A-Alex Bloomfield," she quivered, slowly edging away from Naomi.

            Naomi's eyes widened. "Oh no you don't!" She lunged at the girl and caught her arm, wrenching her towards her and leaning in. Their faces were inches away from each other, and the girl was horrified.

            "Let me go!" she screamed.

            "No," Naomi breathed, clenching her teeth, pulling the writhing girl closer. Naomi looked deep into the girl's terrified hazel eyes and looked down at her body. _Wait a minute…_

            Naomi pushed the girl back at arms distance, but still kept an iron grip on her wrist. Alex's face twisted in pain as Naomi tightened her hold on the girl's wrist, twisting her skin. "You will tell me," Naomi growled, "where you have come from."

            "I—I came from the—the search team, by the destroyed OZ base."

            Naomi's eyes widened. _OZ base!_ She growled and shoved the girl, and her eyes darkened, her teeth clenched.

            "Hey," Alex pointed at her, "aren't you that girl…who they said was kill—" But her hazel eyes stopped, dead and still, and she let out a cry. Her hands went to her stomach, where the pain was immense. The blood poured out, and tears fell down her white face.

            Naomi grunted and twisted the knife in the girl's abdomen. When she believed the girl was as good as dead, she kicked the body off the knife, the girl's lifeless body falling to the forest floor.

            She frowned when she looked at the immense amount of blood on her hands and the knife. Her eyes slowly followed the trail of blood to the body, and then she dropped the knife.

            Her breath stopped in her throat, and her eyes widened as the color drained from her face.

            What had happened? She didn't even realize what she had done until she saw the twisted gash in the girl's stomach, the dark, cold, and _dead_ blood that was still gushing out from her onto the dirt, staining the earth. Naomi just couldn't take it all in at first. Without even _thinking_…

            …Naomi had killed a girl

            An innocent girl.

            For no purpose.

            Naomi backed away from the corpse, her eyes still wide in terror, looking at her hands. This couldn't be true, it _just couldn't_. Why had she killed her? Why? _Why?_

            It was like that song

            _Penance can't absolve your sin_

_            All your belief cannot absolve your sin_

_            Reap your life _

_            like you want recognize all you've come to _

_            Reap your life_

_            Veiled in shadow _

_            Recognize faces of the crucified_

_            I can hear their screams tonight; ever haunting me_

            What had she done?

            _I killed her_, her mind even refused to speak to her. Her only thought was _I killed her, I killed her_.

            _Penance can't absolve your sin._

            "What have I done?" she quivered, backing out of the forest. "No, no," she shook her navy head violently. "No!" she started to scream, praying with all her life that when she would open her blue eyes, the body would be gone. But when she opened them, she only looked upon the blood in the dirt and grass, and it was seeping towards her…

            "Rot in hell!" she screamed at the blood. "I hope your soul never rests, you bitch!" she shrieked. But the blood moved closer and closer, almost touching her shoes.

            Her blue eyes no longer cold, but wide and terrified, she turned and fled the forest, holding her ears to try and stop the pounding of the girl's dead heart in her mind.

_            Reap your life_

_            Veiled in shadow _

_            Recognize faces of the crucified_

_            I can hear their screams tonight; ever haunting me_

            She couldn't take the immense weight that was coming from Lady Phoenix's or Marissa's stares. The Mobile Suits were out front, and everything was ready to go. But Naomi didn't _want_ to build the Gemini anymore. Not after that. She thought she could put her conscience behind her when she left her father, but she was even starting to feel bad about that too…

            _"Father, I'm going to Earth, and you can't stop me."_

_            "Nao—"_

_            "I said you can't stop me!" she closed her eyes and shouted, her back to him and the bag clutched tightly in her hand. She grit her teeth and growled at the kindness of the man._

_            But his eyes softened. "Then good luck, my dear. I hope you find happiness." She grunted and started to leave the office. "I have a flight ready for you, dear!" he called after her, but she tried to ignore him. The door seemed so far away now. _Just shut up, old man_, she snarled in her thoughts._

_            "And," he said after his calls were ignored, his eyes becoming heavy with sadness, "I love you, Naomi-chan. You are always the most important thing to me."_

            _She stopped, her hand dead on the door handle. Her eyes widened for a minute, but she ground her teeth against each other, the ugly feeling snapping her back to reality. She grumbled again and left the office, for the last time, and slammed the door hard, leaving Yossonan Atsui with gathering tears, but a hopeful smile on his face. _

"What are you doing now?" she asked the pillow, knowing the question would never reach her father. He was probably holding a memorial service for her with the rest of the Atsui family, most of whom she chose to ignore and never meet. Then he would move on, run Atsui Enterprises, and maybe remarry and have another kid to succeed him. She could very well imagine him doing that. "And I'll be forgotten, just like I wanted," she murmured darkly to herself.

            _"…always the most important thing to me."_

            Alright father, but dead, or alive? Which do you prefer of me?

            There was a knock at the door.

            "Go away." She knew it was Marissa by the lightness of the knock and because Lady Phoenix really didn't seem to give a shit about her.

            "Naomi, I didn't risk _dying_ to get the suit so you can shut yourself up in _my_ room and give up. What'll happen when you wake up from this?" She opened the door and stepped in. Naomi's anger, however, started to dangerously climb…"I'm not going to let you stay here forever. If you don't _do_ something, I'll tell the authorities that Naomi Atsui is alive and in my house, and they'll believe me, seeing as you aren't too far from where you were 'killed'."

            "_Shut up!_" Naomi shrieked into the pillow. She leapt off the pillow and shoved Marissa into the back of the door, holding the girl's shoulder roughly in her calloused hand. She gritted her teeth, a nasty, wild look in her eyes. "You know nothing. You want to know something for once?" she growled breathlessly. "I just killed a girl. She's dead! She's out there in the woods, her damn blood still on the grass." Her eyelids started to tremble, and she tore away from Marissa, the smaller girl clutching her shoulder and slumping down against the door.

            Naomi clenched her fists. "I…I just can't take it anymore. _I hate having a conscience_. I thought it had died, but…seeing that girl…" She started to shake, an unwanted trembling coming from her. Her voice cracked. "Looking so much like…_me_…" Naomi looked back on Marissa, her eyes soft and pleading. "You don't seem to be affected. Do…do you have a conscience?"

            Marissa sighed and straightened herself, standing up but still grasping her shoulder. She inhaled deeply before she spoke, her breath shaky. "It's not whether I have one or not. I just make sure that I throw everything out."

            Naomi cocked an eyebrow and looked at her strangely. "Excuse me?"

            "Well, it's like a recycling bin on the computer. You delete files, but they're still in the bin unless you delete them forever. I don't really let things affect me, but I still keep them in my mind. Maybe to learn from them, to take them as lessons or warnings." She looked up at Naomi, her hand slowly leaving her shoulder. But that was a mistake, and she winced in pain, her hand flying to grasp it again.

            "B-Besides," she continued, "whether you let things bother you or not externally, one day they will hurt you internally. It might be the next day, it might not be for a few years. But just remember this Naomi: it's alright to push things away, memories you don't want. Just remember they're never going to fully leave you, unless you find some way to empty the recycling bin forever."

            Later that night, Naomi sat and looked at the moon from the window in the room. A sling bag of her old mechanical tools that Marissa had found on her when Naomi's body was found hung on her shoulder. Naomi could always trust her tools. She had even made a few of herself. Maybe her father was right, and maybe she was a type of mechanical genius. She shook her head, a sad smile appearing on her face; she didn't need to make her father proud anymore. All she was doing now was making him cry.

            Lady Phoenix stepped into the room without knocking. Naomi bit her lip and looked at her with irritation, her eyes becoming cold at the intruder of her solitude. "What do you want?"

            The old lady made her way slowly across the room, her cane her only help. She looked up at Naomi's back, a small smile making its way across her old face, which had a scar running down her right cheek. "Marissa told me what happened earlier today."

            Naomi rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Figures."

            Lady Phoenix shook her head and wobbled over next to Naomi. "You know, I was once part of the United Earth Sphere Alliance. That is why I am _Lady_ Phoenix."

            "What's with the Phoenix?"

            "Codename," she shrugged. "But anyways, I know all about weapons and warfare. I was there when the alliance started, I joined in After Colony 140. I may not so much understand the Mobile Suits of today, and all this new stuff. I leave that to my husband, who I told you is Doktor S."

            "Yes," Naomi looked out on the stars distantly. "The creator of Gundam Heavyarms. The pilot is Trowa Barton." Her eyes narrowed and her voice drifted. "Trowa…that was the heir to the Barton Foundation, wasn't he?"

            The old squaw smiled. "Ah, yes, but the _real_ Trowa is dead."

            "I beg your pardon?"

            Lady Phoenix shook her head. "The real Trowa wanted to commence with Operation Meteor, but one of my husband's associates shot him because he wanted to cooperate with a plan that would end up having 2 billion people dead. A mechanic who had grown attached to the suit came forward and offered to pilot it, but he had no name. So my husband and him decided _he_ would take the name Trowa Barton." She looked at the stars with Naomi. "That boy sure is quiet, I've met him. He looks like he can be sweet, but he just needs a little push. Such a young boy being thrown into war. He's only a year older than you   

            "You told me."

            "Ah, I am old, and I can forget things." She shook her head and stomped her cane. "Back to my point."

            "There was a point?"

            "Now, don't get cocky with me, Naomi," Phoenix narrowed her old, sparkling eyes. "What I came here for was to help you."

            "With what?"

            "Your…problem." She shifted on her bad foot and leaned on her cane for a second, looking wearily out the window. It was very dark in the room. "This girl that you killed, what was her name?"  
            Naomi's eyes fell, a cold silence wiping over the pleasure of seeing the stars. "She said she was…Alex Bloomfield or something like that." She shook her head. "I had _tried_ to forget."

            _"Just remember they're never going to fully leave you, unless you find some way to empty the recycling bin forever."_

            _I guess she was right_.

            Lady Phoenix had seemed to read her mind and chuckled quietly. Naomi looked down at the old woman with a puzzled look. Had she listened to their conversation from earlier? Ah, it didn't mind. What was the old woman saying, now?

            "Well, that _Alex Bloomfield_ may have in a way helped you," she spoke up. "Since we can pretty much assume she's dead—"

            "_Yeah_," Naomi interrupted bitterly with a sour look on her face.

            "—maybe you can take her name."

            Naomi froze, a shocked look spreading across her visage. Take her name? What in hell was this woman talking about. "What? How…you…?"

            Lady Phoenix just closed her eyes and smiled. "I told you how Trowa took the real Trowa's name. He was without a name, and since the world thinks you are dead, you are without a name as well. This Alex girl…what did she look like?"

            Naomi rubbed her chin, deep in thought, trying to think of the girl _before_ all the blood. "Well, she had chestnut hair, green eyes…but besides that, she was—" She gasped.       

            _Nearly a mirror image of her with different colors!_

            "—she…she looked exactly like me…except with the hair and the eyes…" She stood, shocked at the window, her mouth wide open. But strangely, a smile was tugging at her lips.

            Lady Phoenix smiled and nodded. "From now on, to the public, you are Alex Bloomfield. All we need is hair dye and green eye contacts, and you're a new girl!" She turned to Naomi and held her arms. "Naomi, isn't this wonderful? You can see the light of the world again. _Now_ do you feel bad about killing her?"

            Naomi's pale face strangely formed a smile, for the first time in a _long_ while. _No,_ she thought, _this is wonderful_.

            Outside the room, standing at the door and still holding her shoulder, Marissa watched with heavy eyes and a deep frown…

            That morning the girls left. There were many places that a base could be built, but they had to pick the perfect spot. _Somewhere that no one will go_ was what they always said in the movies. No, this had to be perfect. Someplace no one really _would_ go.

            They settled in the desert. Yep, smack in the middle of a freaking desert in Arabia. It didn't seem the best place at first, but there were towns nearby, and if they ever needed anything long-term, they always had a jet or MS nearby.

            The Black Gemini was finally completed in the summer of AC 195. Naomi and Marissa had turned fourteen and were tired and weary. Together, they had built what would become the Mobile Suit to surpass the Gundams.

            In the winter they completed the Red Gemini. Marissa wanted it different than the Black Gemini so that the two wouldn't be copies of each other. But it still stood that the Black Gemini was the stronger. Still, it was amazing how these girls were able to accomplish what they did.

            The Black Gemini and the Red Gemini each had their own special features. The Red Gemini, although weaker than the Black, could become invisible and vanish off all radars and tracking systems, even those of any other Gemini model if she wanted. Both suits stole many ideas from the makeups of the Gundams: both were inserted with a Hyper Jammer, which came from the Deathscythe. The Hyper Jammer allowed the suits to approach any target undetected. The Red had two "shoulder pads" that were loaded with missiles that were able for launch, and underneath the missiles, a mini gattling gun. The Red was a little more slim than the black, designed to maneuver and strike the enemy unexpected.

            The Black, however, was more for brutal assault. Black like a hell demon, the terror was best for night, but for space as well. Inserted with special thrusters on its backpack, the Black Gemini was meant to do excellent in both space and ground. Although it did not have as much grace as the Red, it would do far more damage. The cockpit entrance was in the back of the suit instead of the front. The elbows of the arms held openings for large sabers that were hidden in the arms of the suit. When activated, the swords came out of the elbows, and had the best cutting ability that rivaled the Sandrock's Heat Shotels. The special ability of the heat sabers, as they were named, _was_ the heat. The sabers could also heat up and have even more ability to slice through enemies, and buildings, quicker than it would dormant.

            The Red Gemini had two "pads" on its hips. They were actually mini shields that were seated there. When needed, they would hatch onto the suit's hands. They could block regularly, 

            Soon, it was a year later. Both Naomi and Marissa were fifteen. _Then_ things started to change…

            Naomi was sprawled on the couch in the dark living room, the TV on and a bag of baked potato chips at her side. She rubbed her eyes, her now-chestnut hair frazzled and flying in every which way. She yawned, tired from the night before, which she had spent working on another one of her Mobile Transports. Her eyes hurt to be open, but she couldn't find the will to close them, in fear of that hurting too much as well.

            All of a sudden, a little girl who looked like she was seven with orange hair came on the screen in a military uniform. Naomi sat up straight on the couch and leaned forward towards the TV.

            "I would like to announce that we, Colony L-3 X18999, declare independence from the United Earth Nation, and at the same time, declare war."

            Naomi's blue eyes widened with interest. "Didn't the war just end?" she asked herself. She sat back on the couch and continued munching on the chips. The girl continued to say that her name was Mariemaia Kushrenada. Naomi almost choked on her chips.

            "Naomi, you okay?" Marissa called from the bathroom.

            "Yeah, fine." Naomi turned her attention back to the screen. "Mariemaia Kushrenada…" she said quietly to herself. _The leader of OZ. But he's dead, isn't he? Gundam Pilot 05 destroyed the __Mobile__ Suit he was in. I didn't know he had a daughter, though…however, I think __Phoenix__ mentioned that she found out from her husband that Leia Barton of the Barton Foundation had a daughter named Mariemaia…_

"Marissa!" she called.

            Marissa, who had gotten up to go to the bathroom, rubbed her eyes as walked into the dark living room. "What?" she asked in a sleepy tone.

            "You know how Phoenix's husband had that Barton kid as the Gundam Pilot, even though he wasn't the real Trowa?"

            "Yeah? And?"

            "Well, didn't Phoenix mention that the Barton Foundation's Leia Barton had a daughter, Mariemaia? She was the niece of the original Trowa, wasn't she?"

            Marissa thought for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, that was the _real_ Trowa Barton's neice. Mariemaia. I never knew her father, though."

            "Well, look at the screen, because Mariemaia grew up and says that Treize is her father."

            Now it was Marissa's time to choke. "Treize Kushrenada is her father!"

            "Yep, and now she's the leader of a colony in the L3 and is declaring war on Earth."

            Marissa sighed tiredly and fell back on the couch. "Another war? Wasn't there going to be _peace_?"

            "If there was, then we spent a year building the Gemini for nothing." Naomi leaned back on the couch as well and bit her lip. "Well, I know one thing," she muttered bitterly, "I'm not having Relena Peacecraft taking away our weapons."

            Marissa nodded. "No way she is. But besides, we're so far out in the desert. I doubt she'll find us."

            "Yeah, no one else has." Naomi stood up, rubbing her arms for warm. She was only dressed in a black tank and green plaid boxer pants. The desert could get cold at night, and she knew she wasn't dressed warm enough. But she went to the front window and looked at the moon, how it was dissolving as a bit of light blue started to peak out on the horizon.

            She looked back at Marissa, who was also in pajamas. "Marissa, what time is it?"        

            Marissa looked at the DVD/VCR timer. "Five. Why?"

            Naomi walked hurriedly towards her room. "Because we need to get to town," her voice echoing through the empty halls.

            It was just five thirty when Naomi and Marissa arrived at the Arabic town. They were clad in the clothing they had gotten used to, which varied because they got it from army charity centers.

            Naomi ran her hand through her brown hair and tried to stifle a yawn as she and Marissa walked into the market place. It was just about to open, but that was the best time to buy anything before it became packed with busy buyers. They had become regulars there. There was always nifty stuff to trade with the spare parts that they had which were considered sacred to some poor, vying mechanics. And there was also the fact Naomi and Marissa needed food and water.

            Which was funny. They had built a base in the middle of the desert with running water. Naomi herself thought she was well enough to be a plumber, since she was already an extraordinary mechanic. She found some water pipes after digging for a while and then connected those with her own. Sure, it was illegal, but hey, everything she did was illegal and she never got caught.

            Some of the merchants looked up at the girls and smiled, some whose teeth were either yellow or missing, and Marissa smiled sweetly and waved in return.

            Marissa, since she was dead to the world as well, had taken a few of her million middle names and combined them into her name [her original full name was Marissa Anshi Cenolone (sen-no-lon-nay) Shuukaku Mirith Natchios] that she used out in the public, Anshi Shuukaku.             

            In the dark corners of the murky streets, Naomi's ear twitched to hear rapid footsteps and even heavy breathing. _Where is that coming from?_ She frowned and turned to wear she heard the sounds.

            "Come on, Sato! You're running out of breath already?"

            Naomi's eyes narrowed. _Interesting indeed._

            The two girls ran, a whole mess of things in a bundle in their arms. They were both panting, their hair flying behind them, sweat pouring from their foreheads. The shorter girl was in front, her dirty blonde hair flying into her face as she ran. She looked back on the brunette behind her for a quick second, before focusing her eyes to the alley.

            "Come on, Sato! You're running out of breath already?"

            Sato coughed. "Bitch," she hissed. "No wonder you were thrown in jail. You're a horrible thief."

            "Shut the hell up. Now's not the time. We have to jet it out of here."

            They both saw a light up ahead. The girl in front smiled as she thought she was going to safety. But out of the light came two silhouetted figures…

            _Crash_.

            "Ow…" she groaned, rubbing her head. When she opened her eyes, she saw the stuff that she had dropped all over the ground. Her eyes widened. "Ah, shit!" She rushed to pick it up, but when she reached for the wrench, a boot stepped on her hand.

            "_Fuuuuck__,"_ she closed her eyes and hissed, the weight of the combat boot crushing her hand.

            Naomi snorted and bent down. She picked up some of the items. "A wrench, a cell phone, some pieces of wire. A walkie talkie." She threw a computer chip aside and looked down at the girl. "You stole these."

            "Did not," she hissed, rubbing her hand.

            "Yeah, you did," Marissa kneeled, taking a blank disc that was still in its case in her hands. "Alex, we traded this to the computer merchant two days ago. And this is your old wrench!"

            Sato opened her eyes and growled, her rusty brown hair falling in her face. "Shit. What are you, merchant police?"

            Naomi cocked a brow. "No. I do, however, want to know who you are."

            "Sato, Arielle. Now get off her hand before I cut off both of yours!"

            Naomi narrowed her green eyes. "Oh really…interesting. I wonder if you can actually accomplish what you are threatening." She took her boot off Arielle's hand and kicked her to the side.

            Sato hissed and leaped up to her feet. "Wanna bet?!" she growled.

            Naomi grinned wickedly, amused. "Yes," she said slowly and softly, "I do."

            Marissa tugged on her shirt. "Naomi," she hissed in a whisper. "Back off!"

            "I thought she said your name was Alex!" Sato pointed.

            "Well, it seems we have a lot of things incorrect, don't we?" Naomi jumped at Sato, kicking her square in the ribs. She groaned as the pain hit her body, but she opened her eyes and punched Naomi in the cheek. Naomi fell back and growled, rubbing the large bruise that was forming on her cheek.

            "My, my, you can fight, you rat."

            "If I'm a rat, then you're a donkey's ass!" Sato let out a cry and lunged at Naomi. She dodged a few of the blows, but this Sato girl had a good pace. _Shit. This isn't exactly what I had planned._

            "Marissa!" she yelled, dodging another punch, "get the Jeep started! I'll be right there!"

            Marissa nodded. "Right!" She turned to get to the vehicle, but Arielle on the ground wouldn't have her get away. This girl's companion was already attacking Sato. She muttered and got to her feet, running after Marissa.

            Marissa looked back as she ran, seeing that girl who had been on the ground following her. "What the hell do you want?!"

            Arielle said nothing. She just pushed harder to catch up.

            Marissa got to the car and started it, but Arielle jumped onto the back. Marissa cursed and steered the wheel violently, turning car almost on its side. Arielle, however, had gloves on and kept a firm grip on the back seat of the Jeep. Marissa looked back frantically as she sped the automobile through the streets, trying to remember what street Naomi was on. 

            Meanwhile, in the back, Arielle was squinting against the wind as she struggled to stay on the card. She grit her teeth as she tried to climb to the front of the car. Soon, she fell into the backseat and sat herself up. Taking a handkerchief out of her pocket, she reached for Marissa…

            Naomi pinned Sato's arm to her back and she forced the smaller girl's face into the dirt. "You don't fucking mess with me, your rat!" she spat.

            Sato growled. "Talk all you want," she grumbled, bruises forming on her face, "but you still yak like a donkey's ass!"

            Naomi furrowed her brow. "You are one annoying little bug.""

            "Stop with the goddamn name calling!"

            "Why don't you just stop altogether, Naomi Atsui." Naomi looked up to see the girl Arielle with a gun to Marissa's head. Naomi frowned at Marissa's easy defeat, but she sighed; it was slightly her fault for befriending such a weak girl.

            "Why don't we forget the name and you let her go before you end up like your dear friend Sato here?" Naomi didn't even look at her. Sato growled and tried to shift in her position, but Naomi's angry eyes shot back open, and she forced more pressure on her arm, causing her to scream.

            "You heard me!" Arielle shouted, pushing the gun harder into the smaller girl's temple. Marissa clenched her teeth as nervous perspiration poured down her forehead. "I'll blast your friend's brains out, then you're next! You're supposed to be dead anyway—" Out of nowhere, she lost her voice. She stared straight into a machine gun that was obviously stolen from some sort of military base. That gun could shoot her a lot faster that that pistol could shoot Marissa. Naomi still was looking at the dirt.

            "I…said…FORGET THE GODDAMN NAME!" Naomi pushed the trigger without hesitation, spraying an array of bullets towards the two, regardless that she was shooting at one of her allies. Arielle pushed her captive away and flew in the other direction, but she didn't get out of the way fast enough before two of the bullets hit her. When Naomi heard her scream, she stopped.

            The dust on the ground shrouded the area. Naomi just stood still, the gun in her hand still smoking. Her eyes scanned the area, searching for both Arielle and Marissa. Sato popped one eye opened, trying to shift again. Naomi nudged a warning into her back, and the girl stopped trying to move again.

            The girl licked her dry lips and took a deep breath. "Come out. Both of you," she whispered in a soft voice. As the dust was starting to clear, she saw a shaky figure move towards her. By the height of the shadow, Naomi could tell it was Marissa. She rolled her eyes. _Well, at least **she** didn't get killed, which I guess is a good thing._ But even with Marissa's good condition, she didn't care for any of that. She _knew_ she had heard Arielle scream. Now just to find her…

            "Marissa, bind Sato's hands." Her hand gripped on the handle of the machine gun. "And her legs too. I don't care what else you do with her. Just throw her in the back seat."

            Marissa took a deep gulp. "What are we going to do with them?" she croaked.

            Naomi scanned the fading dust. A satisfied look came across her face when she spotted a pair of legs on the ground. "You'll see."

            The two captured girls groaned from the stiffness in their backs. The ropes, although removed from them, still were there in feeling, like invisible bindings. Arielle sat up and rubbed the red marks on her wrist. She looked at her surroundings, then gasped, shaking Sato.

            "Sato! Sato!" The Japanese girl wouldn't stir. Arielle rolled her eyes. "Damn you, Miratekaki." Arielle titled her head back and looked at what was above her. "Shit…it's like a hangar or somethin'." She turned around and nearly screamed at the two humungous Mobile Suits in front of her.

            "Shit!" Sato jolted awake at Arielle's cry. "Those things are like Gundams!"  
            "Actually, ladies, better than the Gundams. And I'm offering you the chance to have one of your own." Both girls looked up at a cord that held a human slowly making its way down to them. The girl jumped off and took her goggles off.

            "You," Sato hissed. Both of them took a step back.

            Naomi cracked her neck and ran a hand through her hair. Grease and oil stains were smudged all over her hands and arms, and her face was lined with sweat. "I thought the two of you were interesting. That's when I decided to bring you here. I could use two more pilots."

            Sato's slit eyes widened. "Pilots? You want us to pilot _those?_"  
            Naomi laughed. "Hell no. The black one's mine, and the red one is Marissa, the other girl that was with me. She's off doing something or rather," she waved her hand, as if dismissing the girl's mention. "You have to build your own, but I'll help you, I guess." She looked up at her Black Gemini and put her hands on her hips. "The Gemini aren't a truly original idea. Much of their parts are based of the Gundams." She looked at the girls, whose interest seemed to be growing. Naomi sighed. Wiping a hand on a cloth hanging out of her pocket, she reached forward. The girls stepped back, but Naomi kept it there.

            "You guys are right. My name is Naomi Atsui. I know, I'm supposed to be dead, but as you can see, I'm not." The girls shakily returned the gesture, and they shook hands. Then Naomi grinned secretively and her eyes narrowed. "However, I looked up your names matching with those faces of yours. Arielle Derson and Sato Miratekaki. If I'm not correct, you," she pointed at Arielle, "died from falling off a cliff after being electrocuted while fixing an electric pole at a detention facility, and you," she then looked at Sato, "I don't know how the hell you died. Nothing came up."

            Sato smirked faintly. "I was supposed to have committed suicide by sinking my own ship off the coast of Okinawa, but I swam to a minor nearby island. I took different names until I made it to America. Then I made it look like I was a Japanese-American."

            "And you?" she looked back at Arielle.

            She shrugged. "Well, I mean, I was a hacker. That's how I got sent to jail. I was a thief and a hacker. Among those who know who I was, not the law, I mean, I'm known as Zzy. Just a codename."

            Naomi went back to Sato. "Do you have an alias?"

            "Well, my brothers were Gendo and Giruku, so I took the name GG. What are you getting at? You have a fake name, don't you? That's why that Marissa girl was calling you Alex."

            Naomi sighed. "Alex Bloomfield was a girl that I killed when she found out that Naomi Atsui was alive. When I realized how much she looked like me, I became her." She pointed at her chestnut hair and green eyes. "These are just contacts and hair dye. My real hair color is blue."

            Arielle nodded. "I could tell. That's how I figured it out. After Marissa kept calling you Naomi, I just figured the colors were different, and it was you." She shook her head and looked up at the Gemini again. "Shit, girl. What are we gonna use them for?"

            Naomi grinned. "You like destroying things, don't you?"

**A/N**: Sorry it took so long to update. I was working mando on my original fiction. Besides, sometimes I go out of the Gundam Wing mood. Anyways, I'm gonna start paying attention to this fic more. Now that I got a huge gulp out of Naomi's past, I'll start with the others, but I'll also get back more to the present, where this actually has to do with Gundam Wing. Maybe five chapters or so before the next history. Now tell me whose you want: Marissa's, Arielle's, or Sato's? 


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